Cousins a Couple Times Removed
by The Author Challenger Muse
Summary: End of S5 Finale, Dean didn't even have a chance to knock on Lisa's door before he found himself in the middle of nowhere with no explanation of why. During his journey back to Lisa he realizes he can't just stop saving people and forms a friendship w/two hunters who aren't quite human and have an angel whispering in their ears
1. Not a Threesome but a Trio

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

Edited:

Because this gives a better look into the OCs

Chapter 1

Not a Threesome but a Trio

Dean didn't even have a chance to knock on Lisa's door before he found himself in the middle of nowhere, standing on the side of the road with the Impala. "Come on Cas!" He shouted weakly, his eyes still teary as he glanced around. The hunter sighed, running a hand through his hair as he stared at the ground. Because Castiel wasn't there. No one was. But that didn't stop him from blaming the angel. "What a dick," Dean muttered to himself before he got in the car and began to drive. As soon as he found out where he was he was going to head back to Lisa's house. It had been his brother's last wish after all.

Dean found as he traveled that he couldn't ignore it when he came across a monster. It wasn't in him to let innocent people get hurt and the more he hunted the more he wondered if he really could settle down with Lisa and Ben. Could he ignore the supernatural? Experience told him he couldn't. Eventually you'd get dragged back in. Hunters were a lot like thieves in that Ocean's Eleven movie he'd watched once. You stayed sharp or you got sloppy. In their case, becoming sloppy meant death. In either case, did he really wanna risk dragging Lisa and Ben into this? No, he decided. He didn't.

Dean had thought he was going to die when they showed up.

The nest of vampires took one look at them and actually _ran_.

The blue-eyed woman sighed, looked at the blonde beside her and pointed at the fleeing bloodsuckers. "Really? They're going to make me run?"

The grey-eyed woman rolled her eyes with a smile as she slapped her companion on the back, "Go get them already, would you."

She grumbled but dutifully gave chase while the blonde helped Dean up.

"You okay?"

"Yeah," he replied, looking in the direction the other woman had run. "Shouldn't we-?"

She stared at him curiously. "What?"

"I don't know, help her?" Dean finished. He was surprised to see her actually look thoughtful before he heard multiple screams of agony.

"No," she said with a calm smile. "I think she's good."

Amarilla Lalopa, as he later learned, was the blonde who had helped him up while the chick that killed all the vampires was called Azul Materis. Fake names, he'd thought until he'd seen the annoyance and embarrassment at revealing those were in fact their real names. Of course he didn't believe it until they'd actually shown him the birth certificates. There was no reason to carry a fake one of those around. It was just overkill.

"So Dean, how's life post almost-apocalypse?" Azul asked casually. When he gave her a look she added, "Hey, you think no one noticed how natural disasters suddenly stopped happening?"

"Yeah, and when Zul notices something that means it must be completely obvious to everyone else."

Her blue eyes narrowed though there was no hint of any real anger. Suddenly her bottom lip poked out and she quietly said, "I notice things."

Dean raised a brow at her for as the blonde patted her on the head the dark-haired woman winked at him… and promptly received a smack to the back of her head.

"OW!" She glared at her companion.

"So what did you two do to get those vamps running so quickly?" He asked.

The black-haired woman turned her glare on him. "Are you fucking kidding me? Do you think I enjoy chasing after everything we come across because the damn things decide to tuck their tail between their legs and run?"

He'd never admit it of course but he was actually a little intimidated. Only a little! Thank god Sam wasn't here to see him be intimidated by a girl though he did have to admit she had to be pretty fucking tough to take out the nest of vamps that had nearly killed him.

"Well, not everything," Amara pointed out.

Azul gave her a look. "Yeah, I'm not counting the stupid or insane."

"Anyway, we were wondering if we could join you." The grey-eyed woman said randomly.

Dean blinked. It was the oddest way of asking for a threesome he'd ever heard of.

"Join you in hunting things," the blue-eyed woman said, hitting him on the head with a rolled up newspaper.

Oh. "Well, I don't really know you guys…"

"We'll do a trail run. If it doesn't work out then we'll simply part ways," Azul suggested.

He shrugged. "Alright. Sounds fine to me."

**Approximately 1 Year Later**

Sam would've been shocked to know that Dean had quite drastically expanded his favorite music collection, learning from both Amara and Azul that while true, some bands were great and always produced quality music other bands and artists occasional made good music too.

Dean guessed it was because it couldn't be helped that the pair had rubbed off on him. They were certainly the most entertaining pair of hunters he'd ever met and both had minds that were just as dirty if not worse, but what really made them all stay together was the fact that the two women cared about innocents just as much as he did and were fiercely loyal. He remembered how one time he'd been caught off guard and was kidnapped by a changeling. While he didn't know how it happened he'd never forget how the two of them had forced the thing to lead them back to Dean maybe only half an hour after he'd waken up. He'd never seen them look more badass.

The trio had their awkward moments too. Or, well, in truth, maybe it'd just been Dean. Sometimes it was hard to tell.

Mara and Zul insisted on sharing a two bed suite whenever they settled down for the night.

After being hit with a rolled up newspaper again for thinking of a threesome again, they informed him that the money they'd been using was in fact their own.

Since they were rich there was no reason not to have a good clean room that didn't have any questionable stains. And because Dean was their hunting partner they wanted to share in the joy of the little things like that.

He asked if it wouldn't be awkward since he was a guy and that he didn't want to force them to share a bed but they'd simply laughed and replied that they always shared a bed anyway. While he'd thought that meant the two were actually together he'd never actually caught them do anything that could exclusively suggest that.

So Amara and Azul slept in the same bed, cuddled and spooned even. So one would occasional would sit on the other's lap when there were only two chairs available. So they'd stroke or brush one another's hair. So whenever they watched a movie one of them was either leaned up against the other, cuddle or put an arm around the other. So if one of them was sleepy they'd nuzzle against the other's neck. So they'd sometimes hold hands or press a kiss against the other's forehead or hair. They never did anything else and amazingly there was no sexual tension, not even when they were blatantly throwing innuendos at one another like crazy. Unbeknownst to Dean, their relationship was progressing. The two just weren't in any hurry. When they reached a point when they wanted more then they'd do more. Currently though, they were content with how things were.

And when Dean eventually got past the point of thinking of sleeping with either of them, he actually discovered he felt some sort of freedom in flirting and throwing innuendos right back at the pair, knowing nothing would ever come of it. To his surprise, he actually stopped going to bars so often to find women who'd have sex with him because they didn't seem anywhere as fulfilling or fun as being with his friends who he'd sometime during the past year, had begun to think of as family.

"So we're finally gonna meet Bobby," Azul said. Her tone suggested she wanted to do anything but be here, "This is just peachy."

Both Amara and Dean looked at her.

"What's wrong with you?" Dean asked as they stood outside Bobby's house.

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe the fact I may have holy water thrown at me or salt forced down my throat or hey, why not cut me with a silver knife!" She replied sourly.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Geezus Zul, I'm sure he's not going to be that paranoid."

"And why would he even bother with a silver knife? That's not exactly standard," Dean added.

She glared at him, "Well, maybe I wouldn't worry about the knife if _someone_ had seen fit to at least _check in_ with Bobby."

"You're squeamish," the other woman said before turning to Dean. "She has a problem with people sticking anything sharp in her skin."

The blue-eyed woman turned her glare on Amara. "I am not _squeamish_!" She said, obviously insulted.

She snorted, "Yeah, you are."

"Here we go," Dean sighed, looking away. Sometimes those two just needed to fight.

"AM NOT!"

"Are too."

"AM _NOT_!" She whined loudly.

"What in the blazes is going on out here?"

All three of them looked up to see Bobby with a shotgun in his hand standing on the porch.

When he saw Dean he looked a little surprised. "Dean?"

"Hey Bobby," he said, turning to face him with a nervous smile.

The old hunter stared at him for a moment before he said, "Well, come on inside." He went back into the house.

When the three got inside they saw Bobby pouring himself a drink.

"Long time no see," Dean said in a joking tone.

Bobby glared at the boy he thought of as a son and sat down. "You couldn't have called? I thought you were dead boy."

Azul inched away from Bobby, glaring at Dean. "I told you," she hissed silently.

Amara rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"Yeah, well, I just needed some time away," Dean replied, looking serious and a little sad. "After Sammy…"

Bobby's expression softened slightly. Then he finally looked at his boy's two companions. "And who might you two be?"

"Azul," the black-haired woman said, eyeing him warily only to start pouting when her friend slapped the back of her head. "You're going to give me brain damage one of these days," she whined.

The blonde offered her hand and Bobby shook it. "Amarilla but you can just call me Amara."

"Blue and yellow?" He asked, looking at them in disbelief.

"That's what I said," Dean chuckled as they glared. "But that's really their names. Hey Zul, it coulda been worse." He paused as she looked at him. "You could've been named Negra for your hair like Amara was."

Azul sneered and flipped him the bird, making her two friends grin.

Once back on the road Amara glanced at Azul. [It's time.]

Zul nodded and disappeared, the sound of the slight flap of wings the only thing signaling her departure.

They'd waited a whole year for this and neither was entirely sure if their plan would work. After all, they might be old but they probably had nothing on Castiel's age. However, they did have the advantage of more experience in dealing with many types of people from more places than he's ever been to. Still, nothing would be for sure until they finally tested it. Monsters ran from them but this didn't tell them if it was because of their fake identity or their real one. Would it be possible that Castiel would not see either identity? Well, they'd find out soon enough.

**This is my first SPN fanfiction so please, be kind. The first couple chapters will be kinda short but they'll get longer as it continues. For more info on the posting of this and anything related to this universe view my notices in my profile.**

Next time

Chapter 2: Destiny Cannot be Changed

- Hey, is that a…guy I see in the front seat?- Amara's voice came over the walkie-talkie he kept on the dashboard. –Have you been hiding men in your car again?- She joked. –Is _he_ why you swerved for a moment back there?-


	2. Destiny Cannot be Changed

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

Chapter 2

Destiny Cannot be Changed

Dean didn't swerve. Well, he didn't accidentally swerve. This was the first time he'd ever done it. But who wouldn't have been shocked enough to do so when an angel who you hadn't seen in a year was suddenly in the passenger seat of your car? And it was because of his surprise that he didn't notice that Castiel had actually subtly looked him over, appearing slightly relieved after doing so before his indifferent expression returned.

"Hello Dean," he said simply.

"Hello?" Dean repeated, incredulously. "You go out of complete contact for a year and all you have to say is _hello_?" Even though he'd done the exact same thing to Bobby this was different. If he _had_ called Bobby over the past year at least he would've answered. He'd called Cas. He'd called him a lot until eventually he figured the angel was intentionally ignoring him. Now he suddenly decided to show up and all he got was a _hello_?

He frowned, tilting his head with the usual mix of confusion and curiosity written on his face. "You did not know." After not being able to find the hunter, even if it was just to make sure he was okay, he thought Dean had been purposely hiding from him. However, this did not appear to be so.

"Know what?" The mortal man asked with a slightly angry tone. "How could I know anything if you didn't tell me!"

His brows furrowed. "I had believed you were deliberately hiding your location from me."

Now it was Dean's turn to frown in confusion as his anger faded. "What? Cas, I wasn't hiding." He glanced over at him for a moment. "You mean you couldn't sense me at all?" Recognizing the hint of worry in the angel's expression was enough of an answer for him as he looked back out at the road. "What the hell man?" This could only mean trouble. "For how long?"

"Since the evasion of the apocalypse."

That had been a year ago. His frown deepened. "Wait, so it wasn't you that magicked me across the country away from Lisa?"

"No."

He felt a little ashamed of himself then. After all, what reason would Cas have to send him away from Lisa and Ben?

"Did you see anyone or anything when this occurred?" Castiel questioned, because it was very likely that at the same moment Dean had disappeared to him had been when he'd been forcibly taken across such a distance.

"No," he grimaced.

- Hey, is that a…guy I see in the front seat?- Amara's voice came over the walkie-talkie he kept on the dashboard. –Have you been hiding men in your car again?- She joked. –Is _he_ why you swerved for a moment back there?-

Dean groaned. This was so not the time.

-Is he giving your mini-me a little TLC?- She laughed.

He picked up the walkie-talkie. "Mar, how many times have I asked you not to call it my mini-me?"

A squeal came over the line. –Oh, so he admits it!-

"Hey, Cas and I aren't like that!" Dean almost thought the blonde would drop it when he got a reply.

-Cas? As in Castiel? Oh, I never knew you played for the angels but if that's how you feel, congrats.-

The fact that Castiel was doing the head tilt thing at him again was not helping him relax as he shifted nervously. "I just told you we're not like that. I like chicks!" He sighed in aggravation. "You know what, pull over. We need to talk anyway. Maybe you can help us resolve a little problem."

-We'd like to help. Really, we would but you know there's a line friends can't cross. I think us helping you figure out sex with-

He shut the walkie-talkie off.

"Who are they?"

"Just a pair of hunters I met about a year ago. They wanted to help me on my hunts and since we worked well together we've been together ever since," he explained, pulling the Impala off to the side of the road.

"How close to a year ago?"

Dean paused to look at Castiel. He didn't think..? "Pretty close." Then again, maybe it wasn't so unbelievable. Maybe the really unbelievable thing was that he hadn't been overly suspicious, that he never did find out why monsters ran from them and that he knew that they didn't need him as much as he needed them and yet they were the ones who asked to join him. They'd even insisted he room with them. "Oh hell," he muttered to himself as he got out of the car.

Amara and Azul were waiting and the fact neither had made a move toward his car was unusual. But they weren't stupid. Both could hear from a great distance and to hear Castiel's last question had led them to believe staying where they were would help ensure no one got accidentally hurt over a misunderstanding.

"What are you two!" Dean shouted at them even though they weren't standing far away enough for it to be necessary.

Castiel stood beside the hunter, staring at the pair. Neither appeared worried or defensive. There was no anger or tension in their stances. In fact, if anything they both seemed to be amused, if not a little uncaring.

As if it was the most normal thing in the world the black-haired woman held her hand up, palm facing the sky as a jar of peanut butter appeared in it while a spoon appeared in the other. She stuck the spoon in her mouth and used her free hand to open the jar before scooping some out with a spoon and sticking it back in her mouth.

The blonde gave her a look as if to say 'Is this really the time?'

She shrugged indifferently, pulling the spoon out. "I had a sudden craving for creamy peanut butter."

"Hello! Are you gonna answer me! What the fuck are you!" Dean yelled, angrily.

Amara gave him a dirty look. "There's no need to be rude Dean. It's not like we're demons or something."

Zul got a curious expression on her face as she glanced at her friend. "Could we ever be? I mean, I never thought about it cuz obviously we'd have to die first but could we possibly become demons?"

"Well, I suppose it might be possible if we-"

"You're angels." Castiel said, interrupting.

Dean looked between them and Cas. Angels? Those two sure didn't act like it.

Azul tilted her head, the spoon in her mouth as she gave him a smile before she pulled it out with a slight pop. The peanut butter and spoon disappeared as she licked her lips. "Ambriel and Barkiel at your service." She said with a small bow.

"But ya know, not _service_," Amara or Barkiel added with a sly grin.

"Everyone said you were dead." Castiel replied.

Ambriel looked at him, amused, "Are you telling me you believe in angelic rumors Castiel?"

"It was assumed when you disappeared and didn't return-"

"Assumptions too?" Barkiel laughed a little before turning to the hunter. "Well, we know what they say about those, right Dean?"

He shrugged, smiling at an uncomfortable Cas.

"Why did you disappear then? Why did you not return to heaven?" The angel asked.

Ambriel stared at him, expression contemplative. "That's not important. Besides, I'd be a little more worried about the current civil war."

Castiel didn't ask how she knew. Most likely she had heard everything. But how much did she know about what he'd done?

"Wait a minute," Dean started, bringing them attention back on himself. "If you two were on earth the whole time why didn't you help us stop the apocalypse? Or were you actually rooting for the other guys?" He asked, eyes narrowed dangerously.

The two looked at him in disbelief.

"Us on Raphael's side? Do you really think so little of us? We could dislike the guy on principal alone," Ambriel replied.

"Yeah, the 'we don't like self-important, corrupt, egotistical, know-it-all, incapable-of-kidding dicks' principal." Barkiel said, ticking off Raphael's bad traits on her hand, one per finger.

Dean felt like laughing. "Man, I'd love someone to actually say that to his face."

The blonde just grinned, all the more amused.

Cas felt an awkward and an unreasonable dislike of the angels who appeared so at ease conversing with Dean and actually tensed slightly when Ambriel looked at him, or more precisely, his wings that were currently stretched out, having a mind of their own and trying to appear intimidating.

She gave him a half-smile, not offended or intimidated as if she knew something he didn't. Her blue eyes traveled along one of his wings until she was looking at Dean before she looked back at Castiel, amusement clear in her gaze. [Looks like Cas is coping a holy feel.] She sent to Barkiel.

He tried to nonchalantly glance toward Dean and blinked, a little surprised to see part of his wing wrapped protectively around the hunter. Before Dean could catch his gaze he looked away, feeling his face heat up slightly.

Dean glanced at Cas, a bit concerned. Something must've happened because the angel wasn't looking at any of them and Barky, as he decided to call her, was smirking in the oblivious angel's direction. "Hey Cas, you alright?"

"Fine," he said plainly, turning his head to look back at the other two angels. "How did you cloak Dean? If you had drawn power from heaven it would've been noticed."

The black-haired woman smiled slyly, "Well, not if we got another angel to do it; someone whose actions would remain unnoticed."

He frowned. "So you have been to heaven."

"Briefly, we thought it'd be a good idea to check in with Raziel."

His eyes widened slightly. "You've spoken with Raziel?" There wasn't a lot known about Raziel to even other angels but what was known was that he was the chief of his area of expertise, an area that dealt specifically with God's plan. But no one who didn't follow his orders ever saw him and despite how gaining the angel's alliance in the civil war would most likely ensure that particular side would win it was unknown where Raziel or the angels working with him even were. Somehow, whenever a civil war or something as important as the impending apocalypse was happening they all seemed to disappear, not that Raziel or anyone under him would ever talk to anyone outside their garrison.

"Dude, what's so important about this Raziel guy?" Dean asked, wondering what the big deal is.

"Well, let's just say finding and speaking to Raziel makes finding God seem like a cake-walk," Ambriel explained.

"Yeah, God pretty much made him a genius at hiding. He's not an angel you can find or summon. Raziel's someone who comes to you." Barkiel added.

"But you just said you went to him."

"True, but he came to us first." The blue-eyed woman explained.

"Why?"

Castiel interjected. "Because they have a destiny they need to fulfill." When Dean looked at him he added, "Raziel is the one who has the designs to all of God's plans."

Wow. Well, he could certainly see why an angel who had that would need to hide. If someone like Raphael got a hold of God's plans it'd spell trouble for everyone; demons, angels, humans and monsters alike. Then the thought finally hit him. Ambriel and Barky had a destiny and they'd been him this past year. He groaned. "Oh man, don't tell me I still have a destiny to fulfill too."

Their grins were answer enough.

Castiel was staring at them with a slight frown, wondering what Dean's new destiny could be.

"Don't be silly Castiel. Destinies cannot be changed, only the path leading there can." Ambriel told him.

Dean frowned. "But what about the apocalypse?"

Barkiel grinned, "We'll let you guys in on a little secret. The apocalypse wasn't destined to happen that day." She looked at Cas but didn't say anything to him.

Castiel strongly suspected that she knew what he'd done, what he was still doing. He could hear the silent, 'we'll talk about you later.' And it made him doubt the path he'd chosen. And the worst of it all was that while Raziel wouldn't care if past events were discussed, talking about current things would most likely be forbidden to talk of. When they didn't ask to speak with him he couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

Next time

Chapter 3: The Alphas are Back in Town

Her smirk widened and she started singing another song.

_He knocks on my heart, whenever he's around_

_Yeah, yeah, got blue blue eyes_


	3. The Alphas are Back in Town

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

Chapter 3:

The Alphas are Back in Town

When Dean woke up the next morning to hear singing he almost forgot what he'd learned the day before. "Hey Barky, could you tone it down? Some of us are trying to sleep," he called out to her.

The singing stopped.

"Barky?" The blonde repeated. "Hm, you know what, I kinda like it." Of course then she continued singing some rock version of Poor Unfortunate Souls.

Dean sighed and decided to get up. It seemed Cas had determined that Amy and Barky didn't have evil intensions and so had left the two with him. He wouldn't admit it out loud but he was happy the angel had cared enough to rush off to check on him once he'd been able to sense him again. It'd also been a relief to know Castiel hadn't been ignoring him after all. When he felt eyes on him he turned around to find Barkiel smirking at him. He spit the toothpaste out into the sink. "What?" He asked, his tone offensive.

Her smirk widened and she started singing another song.

_He knocks on my heart, whenever he's around_

_Yeah, yeah, got blue blue eyes_

_Yeah, yeah, he's so fine_

_My boyfriend, he loves me_

_He loves me very much_

_My boyfriend, he's special_

_We always keep in touch_

_He's funny, my honey_

_He loves me very much_

_My boyfriend is so fine_

His expression hardened and he tensed as he continued brushing his teeth, ignoring her. That damn angel somehow knew what he'd been thinking and though he instinctually wanted to deny what she was implying he knew doing so would only make things worse. He could only try his best to ignore it and hope she grew tired of it. "Where's Amy at anyway?' He tried not to growl out in annoyance.

She raised a brow, mouthing the name. Well, Ambriel didn't roll off the tongue as well as Amy did. It'd been a while since they'd been called anything but Amara and Azul but they wouldn't argue over it. "She's finding us a case."

"Found one. Seems like something's killing parents and kidnapping babies." Ambriel said.

"You sure it's our kind of case?" Dean asked. When she gave him a look he backed up, "Just asking."

"Even if it wasn't then that just means some sicko is kidnapping a bunch of babies which is still bad. Besides, I doubt anyone would kidnap babies unless they were something supernatural. What could a fucked up human want with a bunch of babies?"

He had to admit she had a point. The thought of dealing with four live babies at once made him almost shudder. God, that'd be scary.

* * *

Dean couldn't get over the fact that the three of them were now taking care of a baby. What did he know about babies? He hadn't care of anything small except Sammy growing up and that had been a long time ago. None-the less it seemed he'd been a natural in getting the kid to calm.

Then a fucking changeling had come storming in and Barkiel had restrained it in order for Ambriel to question why it wanted the baby. Except at that moment they'd discovered the kid was a changeling himself.

Well, Dean supposed the beasts had to multiply somehow. Still, he wasn't giving the kid over to be raised to be just another monster. But what were they going to do with the kid? Raise it?

The two angel disposed of the older changeling before they all sat down, wondering what they were going to do. They still hadn't come to a decision and Amy and Barky had gone out for food when another changeling came, but this one was different.

The changeling was stronger than it should be and had easily knocked out Dean and stole the baby back.

When Dean came to and found the two angels looking actually worried he asked what was going one.

"Dean, you got attacked by a fucking _Alpha_," Ambriel stated.

He frowned. "What's an Alpha?"

"An Alpha is the first of its kind; in this case, the first changeling. They're far more powerful than your average shifter. This one could've easily ripped you apart if it wanted to." Barkiel explained. "But what's really concerning is that the Alpha even came at all. The Alphas haven't been seen since monsters first came into existence. And if this Alpha's out and about you can be sure the others are too."

Dean sighed. "Great, do you think this has something to do with why all the other monsters are coming here?"

Amy nodded. "Definitely." She stopped pacing. "This is big. Bigger than we thought."

They talked to Bobby again of course, telling him about the Alphas before continuing on.

Next time

Chapter 4: A Claim on the Soul

He looked at the hunter and said, "I assure you Dean, I do not own your soul."


	4. A Claim on the Soul

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 4:

A Claim on the Soul

Ambriel collapsed face first on the bed. "Ugh," she groaned. "Plagues, really? I mean it's not even the apocalypse or anything!"

"Plagues? Aren't you overreacting? I mean it's not like there was a swarm of locusts and only one guy got boils," Dean pointed out.

"Oh trust us, its plague." Barkiel assured him as she sat down beside Amy who was now beating a pillow and still mumbling about how she hated plagues. "You should call Cas."

He frowned. "I'm sure we can figure it out on our own. I mean, he's gotta be busy being in the middle of a civil war and all."

The black-haired woman lifted her head off the bed to glare at him. "Plagues Dean, we're dealing with plagues and we're not exactly able to draw power from heaven ya know. Besides, the fact there is a war is just another reason to call him seeing as it might be a wrathful angel." She buried her face back into the pillow and muttered, "Though if it is he's doing a piss-ass job."

Dean sighed. "Cas? You there? We got a plague-like situation here so if you could-"

"I'm here."

Ambriel looked up, "Hm." [Am I the only one who thinks its funny he decided to appear on the other side of the room?]

Barky silently laughed. [Not by a long shot.]

Dean gave them a weird look as Castiel shifted uncomfortably. What inside joke did he miss? Shaking his head he turned back to Cas and explained the situation.

"There's only one thing that could have brought this into existence. You call it the Staff of Moses," Castiel said.

Amy sat up, "Wait a minute. The Staff?"

Barkiel and Ambriel exchanged looks before looking at Cas.

"I thought it was safely contained," Barky said.

He sighed as he picked up the jar of locusts, "When the first war ended there was chaos up there and in the confusion, a number of…powerful weapons were…stolen."

Dean had a look of disbelief. "Wait, you – you're saying your nukes are loose?"

Castiel turned the jar over, feeling too ashamed to look up. "Yeah, I'm afraid so." He looked up toward him, "But you've stumbled onto one of them. We must find the weapon that did this. I need your help."

"So does this mean this really is the work of some wrathful angel or something?" The hunter asked.

Cas tilted his head and stared at him. "No. Why would you think that?"

"Well, I don't know Cas. Weapons stolen from heaven suddenly being used on earth. Who else could it be?" He said, exasperated.

The angel frowned. "I cannot think of an angel who would be doing such little damage with it."

"I think we can rule out Moses as a suspect," Barky grinned, nudging Amy.

The black-haired angel laughed a little.

Dean snorted. "Okay. Well, if an angel didn't pull the trigger, then that brings us back to motive."

After a little research the four of them went to pay a little visit to Darryl Birch. To their surprise they found that Arron, Darryl's son, had sold his soul to an angel for a piece of the Staff so he could get revenge for his brother's death. Then Cas had put the boy to sleep and they'd all returned to the motel room in the blink of an eye.

"Cas, you realize you just kidnapped a kid?" Dean questioned.

He laid the sleeping boy on one of the beds. "If the angel we seek truly bought this boy's soul, when a claim is laid on a living soul, it leaves a mark, a brand."

Ambriel and Barkiel started snickering to themselves.

"Like a handprint?" Barky asked, smirking.

Dean's eyes widened in realization, looking between the two angels. "Cas?"

Castiel looked away at nothing in particular. "That was different." He looked at the hunter and said, "I assure you Dean, I do not own your soul."

Amy grinned. "No, I don't suspect you do but I have a feeling you do have another type of claim on it."

Dean looked at them, a little freaked out. "What type of claim is that?"

The blonde opened her mouth to speak, only to close it when Castiel glared at her. She laughed instead. "You know what? Well, come back to this topic later. Why don't we focus on finding the angel who bought some kid's soul?"

Well, after some arguing Cas read the kid's soul and wasn't all that surprised to find out Balthazar was alive.

"Did you know he was on Earth too?" He asked.

"Who?" Ambriel blinked.

"Balthazar."

An angel in a black suit appeared. "Balthazar. Thanks, Castiel. We'll make good use of the name," he said before attacking Castiel which eventually led to the two crashing through the window and falling several stories onto a car parked on the street. The angel then disappeared.

Castiel appeared back up in the apartment. "He's gone."

"Alright Cas, who was that guy?" Dean asked him.

"A soldier of Raphael. He must have followed me when I answered your call." He frowned slightly.

"Raphael? You mean the dick that wants to jump-start the apocalypse?"

Ambriel grimaced. "That'd be the one," she answered for the other angel as he started gathering the stuff required to determine Balthazar's location. "So definitely not of the good if he gets the weapons before we do."

"I need myrrh," Cas muttered, disappearing.

"Why does Raphael want to bring back all this crap anyway?" Dean questioned.

"He's a traditionalist," Barky answered.

Castiel reappeared behind Dean and began drawing on the kitchen table with chalk. After a moment he said, "I need your blood." Then he grabbed Dean's wrist and sliced his palm.

"Whoa, whoa! Hey! Ahh! Why don't you use your own?" He asked.

"It wouldn't work. I'm not human."

The hunter squeezed his hand shut, allowing some of his blood to drip into the bowl.

Cas then added myrrh and holy water before he intoned just as a siren could be heard from outside. The siren was significantly louder when he opened his eyes. "Got him. Let's go."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. What about him?" Dean indicated to the boy still lying on the bed, unconscious.

"Don't you think the police will take him home?" Castiel cluelessly asked while the other two angels shared another grin.

**That night**

"What do you mean you aren't coming?" Dean almost shouted.

Castiel was also looking at them in wonderment.

"Well, we'll help out here if you need it but there's no way we're going inside that mansion." Ambriel told them.

The angel tilted his head with a frown of confusion. "You wish to keep your existence hidden."

Barky looked at him. "We can not be part of this civil war Castiel. Our paths allow us to aid Dean and so we will do so but for now we are not meant to join you in your fight. Should Raziel inform us otherwise though we will not hesitate to fight by your side."

Dean frowned. "You mean you're just going to do whatever this Raziel guy tells you to?"

Amy turned to him. "No, we follow his advice because of his sound logic. While we cannot enlighten you as to the knowledge gained from him know that while we help you there are times we cannot without causing a chain reaction of consequences no one would want. Regardless, should you be in need we will be watching Dean but Castiel, you must go in alone."

The blonde added confidentially, "Besides, I'm sure you'll both be fine."

Dean and Castiel had been fine although unable to acquire the weapons and of course Ambriel complained about having to cut herself to draw the angel-banishing sigil to get rid of the angels that attacked Dean but everyone had come out unscathed. Well, on their side, that was.

Raphael had lost his vessel when Balthazar had used one of the weapons to turn it into a pillar of salt, something Barky couldn't resist cracking a joke or two about when she heard about it later.

Barkiel and Amy had waited outside as Dean had forced Balthazar to release Aaron Birch's soul and the importance of souls had been introduced before Cas released him from the holy fire and disappeared.

**Wow, so as of now I got 8 side stories written up for this and 2 stories that are like an AU of this. If you haven't already read it I've posted**

A Rush of Endorphins: Between Season 5 & 6, Azul has been fidgeting constantly since they've gotten back from taking care of a witch and of course Dean has to question why.

Fairy is Fairly Inaccurate: Between Season 5 & 6, Gay guys, fairies and extraterrestrials…I think you know where this is going but really, Dean brought this on himself the moment he decided to open his mouth

Next time

Chapter 5: Saving a Soul and Defanging a Vamp

If Dean hadn't been agonizing over the fact that his life was over he may have laughed when the brick actually hit the bloodsucker in the back of the head.


	5. Saving a Soul and Defanging a Vamp

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 5:

Saving a Soul and Defanging a Vamp

He never thought he'd be more grateful to have Amy and Barky around than when Bobby asked them to go to Scotland and dig up Crowley's bones. God, he would've hated having to take a plane. He got the chills just thinking about such an impossibly long flight.

_And- now I know where you are planted._ Bobby's faint voice came through the phone.

"Hiya Crowley." Dean said a moment after he heard Bobby probably tossing the phone to the demon.

_Dean, it's been a long time. We should get together._

"Sure, we'll have to do that when I get back."

_Back?_

"Yeah, I've gone international. In fact, I'm in your neck of the woods." The hunter paused before asking, "Did you really use to wear a skirt?"

_A kilt. I had very athletic calves. What's the game?_

"Dominoes. In fact, I just dug yours up." He glared at Amy and Barky as they silently laughed, no doubt making his statement a dirty innuendo in their minds. Honestly, sometimes it was frightening. Taking out his lighter he started clicking it close to the speaker. "Hear that, Crowley? That's me flicking my bic for you."

The two angels held their bellies, bent over laughing even harder though thankfully, still silently.

Dean wasn't surprised to hear Crowley's voice in person after Bobby confirmed he got his soul again.

"I believe those are mine." He said as he walked up to the group, eyes flickering over to the two women grinning at him.

The hunter continues clicking his lighter. "You know now that I think about it, maybe I'll just napalm your ass anyway."

The king of hell looks at Dean as one of the women spoke.

"Dean," the black-haired woman spoke up, her tone stern.

Crowley's surprised that despite his look of frustration the hunter relented.

"Whatever," he grumbled, putting his lighter back in his pocket.

He inspects the bones before putting them in the bag and rising from the grave. "So someone finally managed to put a leash on you huh."

The blonde gives him a quirky smirk. "We're more like advisors."

"Lucky me," he smiled back. He didn't know what they were but those two definitely weren't human. "Now if you'll excuse me. I've a little hell to raise." He disappeared.

"What the hell?" Dean asked.

"Hell's better with him in charge Dean." Amy stated.

He snorted in disbelief. "Yeah right."

Barkiel laughed. "Oh come on Dean, you can't tell me you wouldn't prefer the torture of waiting in a never-ending line then what you went through."

Dean gave her a look. "A line?"

"Yeah, you take a number and wait in line to get through the doors and when you finally get in you're at the back of the line," the grey-eyed woman snickered.

He sighed. Well, if what she said was true then it was best to let Crowley have his way. For now anyway.

* * *

When they discovered their case was connected to vampires Ambriel opted out.

"All I'm saying is that I'm tired of running after them."

"You don't have to run; you can fly," Dean pointed out.

The blue-eyed angel merely folded her arms and looked away.

He sighed, "Okay well I guess Barky and I can-"

"Oh I'm not going."

The hunter gave her a what-the-fuck look. "Okay, Amy's always complaining about running after monsters. What's your excuse?"

Barkiel raised a single brow at him. "You saw that girl's room and that vampire's messages. There is no way I'm going to chase after some bad-poetry-writing vampire."

She looked at her friend with a slight pout. "Unless it was me right?"

The blonde glanced at her. "I'm not even gonna comment on that."

Amy stuck her bottom lip out even more.

"Do you want me to throw you up against the wall?" She questioned, seemingly aggravated.

The angel smiled brightly. "Absolutely."

Dean groaned, deciding it would be best to walk away now. Sure he'd never known the two to have sex but it could happen. Even if they were angels. Of course now that he thought about it, was that possibly why the pair never did anything?

* * *

"A-my," Dean gasped as the vampire rubbed its blood in his mouth.

"Oh, shit." Barkiel glanced at Ambriel.

She nodded and disappeared just as the vamp took off running.

"Never ends," the blonde muttered, picking up a broken brick and tossing it.

If Dean hadn't been agonizing over the fact that his life was over he may have laughed when the brick actually hit the bloodsucker in the back of the head. Obviously it didn't knock the vamp out but he was nevertheless impressed, especially since the monster had stumbled.

"Yeah, you better run you blood whore!" She shouted out to it.

"You'd make a hell of a pitcher," he half laughed, half choked. He blinked, finding that Barky had taken them back to their shared suite.

"I'm more of a hitter actually," she said calmly, not bothering to turn on the lights since his sensitivity would no doubt start soon.

There was a brief sound of fluttering wings before Amy appeared with an older looking guy in tow.

"What the hell are you," he asked angrily. "And where did you-" He paused as he saw Dean. "It's not possible."

"Samuel," Dean blinked in confusion. "But you're dead."

"Don't tell me you've been a vampire all these years without drinking human blood," he shot back.

Barkiel raised her brows at the other angel.

Amy sighed. "He wouldn't stop trying to stab me and stuff so I decided to just bring him here." Turning to Dean's grandfather, she said. "And Dean's only been recently turned."

"But he was there when-"

"You were brought back; you're telling me you don't believe people can time-travel?" Barky asked him.

Samuel had to admit she had a point.

If Dean's senses hadn't chosen that moment to sharpen he would've asked who had brought the old man back but as it was all the noise was hurting his ears. "Oh my God, what is that SOUND?"

Both angels shot him a look of concern.

"It's happening. Samuel, we need the cure," Ambriel told him sternly.

"I'll need to go back and get the book." He barely got the words out before both he and Amy disappeared again.

The hunter pounded on the wall. "Hey, c'mon, keep it down, dammit!" His attention then turned to the blonde angel. Man, everything in him was shouting at him to run, that she was dangerous. He guessed it explained why vampires always ran from the pair.

"Dean, you need to focus. Samuel has a cure that'll work to make you human again. You just need to resist drinking anyone until we can get it."

It took him a while for him to get used to the volume of everyone and hearing Samuel's heartbeat certainly didn't help but he was finally able to focus on something other than his need for blood. "Okay, so what is this cure?"

Samuel slid the open journal over to him. "That's my grandfather's journal. Cure's an old Campbell recipe, kind of like the soup. No one's tried it since God knows. What I hear...this stuff is a bad trip."

"Awesome," the vampire muttered.

"Hey - the cure is good. But a lot of this is on YOU. You drink, you're done. It won't work. I'm talking one drop of human blood –"

"I got it," he interrupted, irritated.

The old hunter gave him a stern look. "Do you? Because-"

"Samuel," Ambriel cut him off with a warning tone.

Samuel sighed and looked away.

"What else do we need?" Dean questioned after closing the journal.

He glanced back at his grandson. "I brought what I could but some stuff we gotta get. Trickiest thing on the list: blood of the fang that turned ya."

The angels shared a look. They'd never be able to get close enough to look for a single vamp when they all fled whenever they were near.

"I'll get it." Dean said.

Samuel looked at him. "You're gonna walk right into the nest?"

"Well, I'm one of them, aren't I? So all I gotta do is get in there, get the guy alone, and...shoot him with so much dead man's blood that he'll think he's rushing a fraternity." He shrugged indifferently.

"How are you gonna find him?"

"I can smell him. Two miles east of town. You guys get the other crap and meet me there." Dean said as he walked to the door.

"Dean." Samuel held out a large syringe filled with blood. "It's dead man's blood. Now, there's enough there to drop a linebacker, and then some."

Dean hesitantly reached for the syringe. He could smell the blood, blood that could now hurt _him_.

"Good luck, son."

He shut the door and focused on avoiding everyone as he made his way to the nest.

Samuel had been surprised that the two women, whatever they were, hadn't volunteered to go with Dean until they explained the reason why. "You never did tell me what you were," he said, looking at the blue-eyed woman.

She smirked. "You mean you can't figure it out?"

He really couldn't.

* * *

When they finally got to Dean in the nest now full of headless vampires Amy and Barky immediately wanted to comfort him but knowing they'd have to wait as he flinched when they came near. So they all went back to the motel room and fixed the vampire the cure.

Samuel watched the two non-humans' expressions showing concern over Dean as he vomited and finally collapsed on the floor and knew whatever they were, they at least cared about his grandson.

They're all relieved when he opens his eyes and its clear the cure worked.

* * *

**Be sure to check out my new side story each week. **

**This week:**

The Reason Why

Summary:

Dean asks why they went through all the trouble of helping him and the answer is nothing he would've guessed. And honestly, it's a conversation he's going to convince himself never happened. At least they didn't mention their brief Wincest obsession

**Oh, and for anyone wondering where the hell Sam is…well, the fact he's not all dead but not all here will be brought up in…chapter 7**

* * *

Next time

Chapter 6: Talking Around the Truth

"You angels really are such simple-minded creatures. I gotta say I'm not surprised humans are God's favorite children considering how he so obviously failed in your creation."


	6. Talking Around the Truth

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 6:

Talking Around the Truth

Ambriel was singing along to House of Wolves by My Chemical Romance on the radio as she packed up to head out when she felt Dean staring at her. She paused, turned around and tilted her head, "Yes?"

"How did you know about Samuel? And how could you possibly know he had a cure?" He asked, eyes narrowed.

She raised a single brow at him. "Raziel, who else?"

"Did that dick mention that I'd be turned too," he asked gruffly.

"In a matter of speaking. Raziel's not the most direct of angels. He mostly speaks in riddles and they aren't even in English," the dark-haired angel simply stated.

Dean wasn't sure he believed her though.

She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, must you always be so suspicious?"

A flutter of wings was heard before, "It's not paranoia if people are really out to get him."

"True but no one ever admits it when asked." Amy pointed out. "They always lie."

Barky conceded that this was true. "Speaking of truths and lies, Raziel, after much begging and prying, admitted that there's this town where people have suddenly found themselves speaking the truth."

"I thought you said Raziel only spoke in riddles," Dean started.

Ambriel rolled her eyes again. "I said he _mostly_ speaks in riddles. What do you think we do in the middle of the night while you're sleeping?"

He cocked his head to the side, a suggestive smirk on his lips before Barkiel hit him with a rolled up newspaper. Where did she keep that thing?

"We're trying to figure out Raziel's riddles you dumb-ass," the dark-haired angel said, giving him a look.

"So you guys have never-OW!" He rubbed the back of his head, glaring at the blonde.

She smirked at him in amusement.

"It's none of your business what we do or don't do in bed." Amy stated with an unreadable expression.

The hunter glanced back and forth between them. "Can you at least tell me if you two are together or not? Honestly, it's been driving me nuts."

Barky wrinkled her nose in thought. "No, I don't think we will. Why spoil the fun of small tortures?" She grinned at him.

Dean groaned. Well, maybe if he could figure out what was forcing people to tell the truth in their case he could use the method on those two.

* * *

Of course, Dean thought to himself, even after he found out what was making people tell the truth he'd still have to find the two angels seeing as they'd disappeared and hadn't answered his calls since they'd split up to investigate. When he talked to Harry, who'd been the only connection he could find between the victims, he'd thought he finally discovered the reason for people suddenly telling the truth. Naturally he tried Amy and Barky but those two didn't answer. So he decided to call for Cas. "Castiel? Hello? Possible loose nuke down here, angelic weapon. Kinda your department. You hear that, Cas?"

"Dean." He paused long enough for the hunter to face him. "Where are Ambriel and Barkiel?"

"Hell if I know. Those two ditched me almost as soon as I got here and haven't been answering my calls." Dean huffed, annoyed.

"Perhaps they have merely gone to seen Raziel," Castiel suggested.

"That dick was the one that sent us here," he muttered. "And even if they did go see him since when do they go at the same time?"

The angel wore a hint of a frown. "It could possibly be a trap. You said Raziel sent you here? Did he say why?"

Dean groaned, "Amy said that he spoke in riddles and that they usually had to decipher what he was trying to tell them but Barkiel said this time she got him to just tell her that something was forcing people here to tell the truth." The green-eyed man rubbed his temple. He should've known. After all, Raziel wasn't on anyone's side, was he? The angel was merely making sure God's plan was carried out and who said he wouldn't lie to fulfill it if the two angels' destiny was to be kidnapped, tortured or killed? "I though maybe it was Gabriel's Horn of Truth but-"

There was the sound of Castiel's wings fluttering as he left.

"Thanks a lot!"

Cas reappeared behind him. "It isn't the Horn of Truth."

He turned around. "What are you talking about? You were gone for like two seconds. Where did you look?"

"Everywhere."

"Right. Well, do you think maybe Amy and Barky were kidnapped or something?"

Castiel thought on this. As far as he knew no one was aware that Dean's companions were angels and without that information it was highly unlikely their captures could restrain them. Unless it was another angel.

* * *

A black woman in a suit stepped out of the shadows.

"Raphael, what a not-so-big surprise," Barkiel said, wearing an amused smirk. "Decided to change your looks, have you? From asshole to bitch?"

"You are not Barkiel. He died in the first war," the angel stated.

"Yeah, well, so did Balthazar and I hear he's looking quite well." Barky shrugged nonchalantly.

Raphael glared at her. "You're no angel. What are you?"

The blonde shifted, glancing down at her bonds and wounded body. Well, they'd certainly covered the bases in her imprisonment, not that any of it would stop her from getting loose should she desire to leave. She looked up, grinning smugly. "I'm better than you." That bitch didn't know it but she'd already healed and placed a glamour over herself so they'd think their torture methods actually did more than make her mildly discomforted. And of course she made sure to fake a scream of pain as a red hot poker was driven into her side. While it certainly hurt, the level of pain was more on that of a deep paper cut for a human.

Azul of course had done just as her companion had, putting up a glamour when her wounds healed and was currently looking at Raphael with an expression of boredom. She gritted her teeth as the angel sliced her skin open again. Damn, she DID hate being sliced open.

"Has she said anything?"

The dark-haired woman looked up to see Raphael who was doing a good job at not showing how pissed off she was from getting nowhere with Amara.

"No," the angel answered his superior.

She walked up the fake angel. "Leave us."

The blue-eyed woman cocked her head in question. "You do know that in order to have a heart-to-heart discussion you do need to in-fact have a heart right?" She asked, a slight smile on her lips

Raphael smirked, "Your companion won't last much longer. I suspect she'll die during the next session." To the angel's surprise the prisoner gave a short laugh.

"You angels really are such simple-minded creatures. I gotta say I'm not surprised humans are God's favorite children considering how he so obviously failed in your creation." Of course enraging the angel probably wasn't the best idea but it wasn't like the idiot would ever figure out how to kill her. An hour later she was panting as she asked, "Why don't you just ask what you really want to know?"

The woman glared at her but did ask, "Where is Raziel?"

This only made Zul throw her head back and laugh. Raziel. Oh hell was she barking up the wrong tree. Raziel would sooner start speaking American English before helping Raphael.

Raphael took out her angel blade and began slicing her prisoner with that instead.

It really might as well have been a regular blade, Azul mused to herself though she made sure her glamour showed light coming from the wounds, if for nothing else than to simply confuse the hell out of Raph.

* * *

Dean had absolutely no leads on what happened to Amy and Barkiel and so had continued working the case while Cas worked on finding the two missing angels. Eventually he discovered some chick had summoned the goddess of truth to find out the truth about her cheating boyfriend. Of course Veritas tended to slam the truth into people until they committed suicide and she got her tribute. After figuring out who the goddess was and how to kill her he went in. Unfortunately, he'd been knocked out and now found himself tied to a post with his hands behind his back. He closed his eyes, sickened by the sight of Veritas eating a human tongue.

"Mmm. Mmm! I cannot _wait_ to eat yours. I mean, I've seen liars before, but you? Gold standard." She put down the tongue, walking away.

"Point of professional pride."

Varitas walked over to stand in front of the hunter. "I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you, Dean. You know what happens when you base your life on lies, right? The truth comes along and... So, while you've still got your tongue, God knows you've got an earful." She sat down next to him. "I think it's your turn to spill some. How 'bout we play a little truth or truth? What should I ask first, hmm? Something... Personal about you?"

"How 'bout not?"

Both Dean and the goddess looked up to see Barkiel standing there, a bloody mess but grinning cockily.

Varitas smirked in amusement. "Glamours don't fool me; why don't you tell me who you really are?"

Her illusions did drop though to reveal that while she wasn't as injured as she'd looked before her clothes were still just as bloody despite being mostly healed. The blonde glanced at Dean in amusement, winking before looking back at so-called goddess of truth. "Well since you asked nicely I'll tell you I'm closer to being a goddess than you'll ever be. Really, the standards in this world have fallen amazingly low."

She frowned for while she sensed this woman wasn't lying she still hadn't answered her question. "What are you?" Varitas heard a flutter of wings and turned to see another woman in a similar condition as the other and had the same feel to her.

"I'll tell you what we're not," Amy answered. "We're not children of some whore our father decided to hire for a night."

She glared. "How do you know that!? No one knows that!" Just as she moved toward her she felt something sharp pierce her back, the dog's blood-soaked knife that she taken away from Dean while he was unconscious.

"Damn, that was close," he sighed as Barky cut him loose. "What happened to you guys?" Dean looked at their injuries, knowing they must've been tortured the whole time they'd been missing to get their clothes so torn and bloody.

The dark-haired angel helped him up. "Raphael decided she wanted to have a little chat."

His brows furrowed. "Wait, _she_? Raphael's new vessel is a woman?"

Barkiel laughed, "Yeah and she wasn't too happy when I asked if she decided it was time to go from asshole to bitch."

Dean raised his brows at her. He knew the blonde angel had balls but to actually say that while being tortured? Wow. "How'd you two escape?"

The blonde smirked at him. "Trade-secret Dean."

* * *

When Castiel appeared later that night in their hotel he cast inquisitive looks at both Ambriel and Barkiel.

"Ah, I see Raphael has been spreading rumors," Amy started.

"No doubt telling everything but the most important thing," Barky nodded.

He frowned. "And what is that?"

"She wanted to know where Raziel was," the blonde said with a grin.

"Got the IQ of a mentally unstable wizard that one does," Ambriel muttered, recalling a certain Lord Voldemort and his inane actions.

Barkiel snickered.

Cas wore a hint of a frown. "You didn't-"

"Of course not! What do you take us for?"

Amy stared at Castiel. "She said something." She frowned slightly, "Something that's bothering you."

The angel seemed to think whether or not to mention it before he said, "She says you two aren't Ambriel and Barkiel, that neither of you are even angels."

Barky snorted, rolling her eyes as she looked away. "Yeah, well, she would, wouldn't she? After all I'm sure she's not even the slightest bit upset her torture methods on us never got her anywhere; not to mention that we escaped."

"We knew Raphael was going to capture us Cas," the dark-haired woman admitted.

He stared at her. "Then why…" He looked away and frowned briefly. "Raziel." Castiel looked back at them.

Ambriel smiled, "While he full-well knows we won't change what's meant to be that doesn't mean he can't make our journey a little easier."

"How?"

The blonde shook her head. "Not our secret to tell."

Cas sighed. "Any more word from him that you could tell me?"

Barkiel smirked, "Well, we've been told Dean's grandfather is planning a hunt to go after the Alpha vampire so we thought we might join him."

He stared at her, waiting for her to tell him she knew but she didn't say another word despite her expression. "Will Dean agree to that?"

The blue-eyed woman shrugged. "He doesn't have to know we got the info from Raziel and even if he did I doubt he'd want to stay away if he thought this meant something was going to happen to Samuel."

After a moment he nodded to them. "Good luck." Then he was gone. Well, sort of.

Barky smirked. [Well, whadaya know, he does stalk around Dean when he's invisible.]

* * *

**Check out my most recent side story**

Angel Shipping

Summary:

"Hey Dean, did you know there was a site dedicated to the relationships of angels?" Poor Dean

* * *

Next time

Chapter 7: Samuel, Sammy and Sam I Am

"Well, saying he's your brother is not completely accurate," Ambriel added.


	7. Samuel, Sammy and Sam I Am

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 7:

Samuel, Sammy and Sam I Am

Dean went to help Samuel with the hunt and had discovered the old man actually captured the big vamp for questioning, something he found highly suspicious and stupid. So he called in Barkiel and Ambriel.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea Dean," Amy said, worried.

He gave her a look.

"I'm not arguing that we shouldn't find out what Samuel is up to; I'm just saying well," she looked at the other angel.

"We know how normal vamps react to us Dean but well," Barky paused. "We've never met an Alpha and honestly, we don't know what this one's reaction to us will be."

Dean sighed. "I know. It's not the best plan ever but if he's questioning the bloodsucker he'll probably be heavily restrained. How about you take me there, I go inside alone, and I'll call you when the coast is clear."

They shared a glance before they nodded.

* * *

Samuel asked the vampire that was strapped to a chair inside a cage, "Where is it? Answer the question. Where is it? How do we find it?" The electricity hummed and crackled as he pushed a button to electrocute the Alpha.

He shifted slightly. "Ouch. Stop. That hurts," the vamp said in a sarcastic manner.

Samuel stopped pressing the button as it seemed to be going nowhere. "This - This is club med compared to what we have planned for you. I got - I got all the time in the world."

The Alpha Vampire would've shrugged if he could've, "Well, that makes two of us."

The old hunter dropped the machete and it clattered to the floor, making the bloodsucker laugh as he left.

He turned his attention to the human who'd been hiding for the past two minutes. "Are you going to hide all night? Come on out."

Dean walked out, whispering for Amy and Barky that it was clear and enjoyed how the Alpha's smile disappeared when they appeared beside him.

Barkiel raised an eyebrow as she looked at the cage and gently kicked it. "What a piece of crap." She turned her attention to the one imprisoned. "This thing is holding you?"

He didn't answer, merely watched her as she walked back over to the other one of her kind.

Dean smiled. Well, apparently even an Alpha thought those two were dangerous enough to keep an eye on. "We got some questions for you, skippy, since you're going nowhere fast." He said, pacing in front of the cage. The hunter huffed out a laugh as the vamp ignored him, still watching the two angels.

Ambriel frowned. "And you'll answer him," she said seriously.

The Alpha frowned suspiciously. He wasn't sure what they were but he could feel the power rolling off of them, power that might surpass even The Mother. Having not felt The Mother in so long he couldn't be sure but he knew either of this hunter's companions could kill him without any trouble or effort. Their presence screamed danger, informing him that in this situation he was the prey and they the predators. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know." He had wanted to throw in if those two didn't kill him but had seen the warning glare.

He glanced back at his angel friends as the blonde gave him a thumb's up. Well, who needed torture when you had two people who scared the crap out of the one you wanted answers from? Dean turned back to look at the vamp. "Are you really the first of your kind?"

"The very first."

Hm. Dean cocked his head to the side in thought as he continued pacing in front of the cage. "But if you're the first... who made you?"

"We all have our mothers. Even me."

The hunter frowned, "What does that mean? And what's with the big surge of vamps lately? I mean, it's like –"

"Like we're going to war."

"Why? What's going on? Why did Samuel bring you here?"

The vamp paused. "When we "freaks" die... where do we go? Not heaven, not hell. So?"

Dean gave him a look that said 'I have no freaking clue,' "Legoland?"

"Purgatory." The dark-haired angel answered.

He glanced back at them, "Purgatory? Purgatory's real?"

The Alpha almost laughed, "Of course! And it is filled with the soul of every hungry thing like me that ever walked this earth. Now, where is it? That is the mystery. And that is what your kindhearted granddaddy is trying to beat out of me."

"Samuel brought you here... to find out where purgatory is?" He asked in disbelief.

"I keep telling him - how would I know such a thing? But he refuses to untie me."

Now he was confused, "Why does Samuel care about any of this?"

"He doesn't care. He does as he is told."

Dean turned to face the two angels, "Well, if the old man's kermit... whose hand's up his ass?"

Suddenly both Amy and Barkiel were banished and Dean turned around to see Samuel, his hand off the sigil on the wall and supporting the gun aimed at him.

"Evening, Dean."

He looked away. Oh, well this was just fucking fantastic. "Wow, you know, I have seen some stupid in my time, but you take the crown. Putting jaws in a fishbowl? How do you think that's gonna end? I don't know what kind of game you're running – "

Samuel cut him off, "What, do you think I'm doing this for kicks?"

Dean continued talking as he disarmed himself. He'd be crazy not to. Who knew how many hunters Samuel had working for him, "So whatever you're doing, whatever you're hiding... it's gonna put you and everyone around you in the ground."

* * *

Dean drove the impala, still digesting the fact Samuel was working for Crowley and torturing alphas to find the location of purgatory! Was Samuel so stupid as to not think what Crowley would do with purgatory? He heard the flutter of wings and Ambriel and Barkiel appeared in the back seat.

"Samuel's a dick," Amy stated. "I mean we help him save his grandson and he has the nerve to banish us? How'd he even figure out how to do that?"

"Crowley probably told him," Dean grunted.

Barky frowned. "Crowley? Why would Crowley-" Realization hit, "Crowley wants purgatory."

"Suppose that answers the question of who brought Samuel back," Ambriel sighed.

Green eyes narrowed as they stared out at the road. Did those two really not know? They'd known Samuel was back so how had they not known this? There was also still the question of how the two had possibly escaped.

* * *

So he decided to listen at their door. Stupid and they'd most likely know he was there but it wasn't like the angels had diaries or anything. He never expected to hear this though.

"Have you checked up on Sam?" Barkiel asked.

The dark-haired woman snorted. "Why bother? He's not coming out of that coma as not even Cas could find him now."

Sam? They couldn't be talking about Samuel could they? Then again, why would Cas ever want to find him? And the two couldn't possibly be talking about Sammy. Sammy was still in hell, stuck in Lucifer's cage.

"You know there's still a chance a demon or something will accidentally run into him," the blonde pointed out.

"Hm, that's not what Raziel said."

"Raziel could lie."

Another snort. "To us? He wouldn't dare. He knows very well we're following the plan. Sure, not to the exact letter but like we told Castiel and Dean, paths can be changed. Destiny can't."

"You don't think we're changing destiny ultimately?"

Amy sighed. "No. I did ask Raziel and he said it didn't have a specific time to happen; only that it would eventually."

Dean pressed his ear against the door harder. Were they talking about his destiny?

"How long do you suppose it'll take Sam I Am to rear a legitimate child?"

The angel laughed. "That dick! All he had to do was raise the children he sired in the first place and he wouldn't have fucked up this world so much. His abandonment made sure they never reached anywhere near their full potential and that their beings were twisted and made them nothing better than most supernatural creatures here."

Barkiel snorted. "Guys and their need to get laid without protection. And to have named himself God is just beyond arrogant. It'd be like if Tom had chosen to be called Wizard or The Wizard."

"Even Tom didn't fuck with everyone like this though," Ambriel pointed out. "Besides, I think it would've been cool if he'd decided to be called The Wizard."

Dean could just see the blonde giving the other angel a look.

"You would."

When the pair started talking about someone named Severus he walked away to digest the information he'd heard.

* * *

The next morning as they were getting ready to head out he asked Amy, "How many Sams do you know?"

Ambriel paused, frowning. Well, obviously he meant in this dimension so, "just two, why?" She continued packing.

"Who's the one in a coma?" Dean questioned, eyes narrowing as she froze.

The angel relaxed but didn't turn to look at him. "Ah, so it was you who was eavesdropping."

"Who else would it be?"

She hummed.

"Well, will you at least tell me who comatose Sam is?"

"Your brother," a voice answered from the doorway.

Dean turned around to face Barkiel, angry. "And you didn't think that was something I should know?"

"Well, saying he's your brother is not completely accurate," Ambriel added.

The hunter's mind drew the worst possible conclusion as he looked back at her. "Shit! Lucifer?"

The blonde walked into the room and shook her head. "No." She sighed. "Sammy's actually still in the cage. Well, the important part of him anyway."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that the body of your brother is alive but his soul is unfortunately absent. That's why we put him in a coma. I mean, can you imagine something soulless walking around? Even demons have souls, albeit corrupt souls but souls nonetheless."

He sat on his bed. It was quite a bit to take in. And he had to admit they had a point. His brother had talked himself into drinking demon blood _with_ his soul. If Sam didn't had a soul to hold him back… Well, he didn't wanna think about it. He sat there a few minutes, letting this sink in. Then he said, "Cas can fix this." He started, hopeful. "I mean, he pulled me out so he could-"

"Sorry Dean but there's a reason it took so much to open Lucifer's cage the first time. Did you forget that Lucifer isn't the only fallen angel in hell? A couple of dick angels and hell had to cooperate to open it last time so I very much doubt Castiel could. Besides, when Cas went to get you he hadn't exactly gone alone." The black-haired angel informed him.

Dean sighed in defeat, running his hand through his hair.

* * *

**And this week's side story is**

Sharing a Shower

Summary:

Between Season 5 & 6, "Dean, are you telling me if you shared a shower with another guy it'd result in sex?"

**Also, here's a story I came up with while contemplating how Ambriel and Barkiel would've fit into the End verse**

The Ending that Never Came

Summary:

Takes place in The End verse after Dean goes back to his own time. Dean died and Cas was at Death's door. But that's not the end of their story. Far from it. Things are only just beginning. Brief Destiel implications

* * *

Next time

Chapter 8:Crowley Go Boom?

Dean isn't sure why but the image of Cas being fucked against the wall makes a slight blush come to his face.


	8. Crowley Go Boom?

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 8:

Crowley Go Boom?

"I don't know. Keep digging. There's gotta be a way to-"

"Is that Bobby Singer? Give him a kiss for me," Crowley said, smiling.

Dean glared at him. "I'll call you back," he told Bobby, who he'd been speaking to on his cell phone.

"I see your advisors are nowhere to be found." The demon stated, pulling up a chair to Dean's table and sitting backwards in it.

"What do you want?" He grumbled, annoyed.

The king of hell flashed him a grin. "The real question is, what do you want Dean?"

His hands curled into fists. "I don't want anything from you."

"Is that right?" Crowley sighed as if disappointed as he stood up. "I thought you'd be interested in getting back your brother's soul but since you don't care…" He shrugged nonchalantly, turning to walk away.

Dean narrowed his eyes. "You can get Sammy's soul back?"

He paused and turned back around to face him, smiling again, "Who do you think brought him back?"

While he hated the thought that a demon had partially brought his brother back Samuel had admitted to Crowley bringing him back and wouldn't it make sense that the demon would bring Sam back without a soul? Still, "You messed up though. I'm betting the reason you're only offering this now because you didn't have any idea where Sam was."

"I don't need to know where he is. Honestly I couldn't care less, but it occurred to me that someone like you would need a little more proof of my power and genuine willingness to follow through."

Damn right he needed proof. He wasn't like Samuel. He wouldn't take the word of a demon. "And what do you get out of bringing back Sam's soul?"

"It's simple really. Nothing you and your little advisors couldn't handle I'm sure."

"What. Do. You. Want."

His grin widened. "You bag me a live Alpha and I'll give the moose back his soul."

"No," the dark-haired hunter replied without any hesitation. "I've done some shady stuff in my time, but I am not doing this. No."

Crowley stared at him, not looking the slightest bit put out. "I'll tell you what, think on it and when you decide that you want what little of Sam is up here to stay here, well, I'm sure Bobby knows how to reach me." Then he disappeared.

* * *

He hadn't told Amy and Barky about Crowley's visit since there was no way he'd be working for the demon but discovered that had been a huge mistake when the two angels had worriedly admitted later that month that Sammy was missing. And of course Crowley had returned to threaten him into capturing Alphas. He didn't have a choice. Ambriel and Barkiel couldn't find Sammy as they had scolded him for not telling them about Crowley because the only reason the demon had Sammy was because he must've had all the demons checking out comatose patients in every hospital they could find. And Dean cursed himself because Sammy could be anywhere. Fuck, his brother could be dead again for all he knew or worse, maybe Crowley had woken up soulless Sam and had the hunter working for him too. And if Crowley did have Sammy working for him he knew the best chance he had of finding him would be while searching for Alphas. Even so he hadn't seen this coming, agreeing to work together with Meg. Personally, he thought his two angel friends were crazy but at least they'd also suggested talking Castiel into coming to put the odds in their favor for when Meg decided to double cross them. And after failing to get Samuel to tell them where Crowley was and a failed ritual by Cas in an attempt to locate the king of hell Dean was actually stuck doing research while the three angels watched TV.

"It's very complex," Castiel said, eyes observing the figures on the television.

Barky snorted.

"If the pizza man truly loves this babysitter, why does he keep slapping her rear? Perhaps she's done something wrong."

The two female angels fell over laughing.

Between that and Castiel's comments Dean couldn't help but ask, "Why are you guys watching porn?"

Amy shrugged, indifferent. "Hey, Cas picked it out."

"It was there." The male angel said while he glanced over at Dean briefly.

"You don't watch porn in a room full of other people. And you don't talk about it. Just turn it off." The hunter told them.

The blonde laughed, "Like he hasn't seen porn with all the times he watches you."

Castiel looked down into his lap.

Ambriel smirked. "And now he's got a boner."

Before the hunter could ask what the hell Barky meant by Cas watching him there was a knock on the door so he went to open it.

Samuel walked in, looking from the three in front of the TV to Dean. "This is what you do? Sit around watching pornos with angels?"

"We're not supposed to talk about it," Castiel said in his normal monotone voice, making his sisters start rolling on the floor with laughter.

Dean ignored them. "Why are you here Samuel?"

"It's what Mary would want. Now, this is what I know. Whatever we bag ends up there." He showed his grandson on the map he'd brought with him. "That's where he tortures 'em, interrogates 'em, I don't really know. Only been outside the places, but it's a death trap. Nothing gets in that Crowley doesn't want in and nothing gets out, period."

"Well, thanks." Dean said. He wouldn't bother asking the man to come with him because really, he wasn't sure how much he could trust him.

* * *

He hadn't seen this coming really. The moment Meg had called Cas Clarence the blonde angel had glared at the demon and practically growled that she better stay the hell away from Castiel or else she'd hand Meg over to Crowley herself.

Meg had given her a half-smirk, amused.

It'd taken a bit of talking and well, one of the demons got killed but they eventually agreed to all travel together to go take down the king of hell.

Dean had listened to Castiel as he warned him of the consequences of bringing Sam's soul back after so much time in the cage but he couldn't give up on Sam, not now. Not ever.

* * *

Getting in had been easy. Too easy. But they continued on until Castiel had called them all to stop and they suddenly heard the hellhounds. The two demons with Meg are sacrificed as they made their temporary escape, wedging the set of doors with a piece of wood they knew wouldn't hold for long.

"I knew this was a trap," Dean muttered.

Meg droned sarcastically, "What do you want, a cupcake?"

"How many hellhounds are there?"

"Lots. I'll be pulling for you…from Cleveland."

Dean looks at her in disbelief. "What?!"

Amy snickers when it's obvious the demon can't leave which earns herself a glare.

"Karma's a bitch huh," Barky muttered.

The hunter offers Meg Ruby's knife since she can see the hellhounds but she refuses, saying he'll need it to kill Crowley.

"I'll hold off the dogs while you find Crowley."

He frowns. "How are you gonna do that?"

Meg is about to grab Castiel by the neck when Barkiel yanks her back by her hair.

"I know you demons can't resist forbidden fruit but seriously, not the time." The blonde angel said, obviously annoyed.

Amy reaches in Castiel's trench coat and pulls out his angel sword before handing it to Meg. "I don't know if it'll actually work but hey, if it works on angels," she shrugged.

Barkiel released the demon's hair, still glaring at her.

"Come on, let's get going," Ambriel said before they all ran until they reached a stairwell.

"Can't see jack," Dean grumbles.

Then suddenly there's a blinding light and Castiel, Ambriel and Barky are gone.

"Guys?!" He squints and sees someone standing with their hand on the wall, the one who banished the angels. "You sold us out?" When two demons appear behind him he curses the man. "Damn you Samuel." And just like that he finds himself a prisoner; just like the many creatures Crowley had been torturing. "Oh man, I'm standing in pee."

* * *

Amy and Barkiel arrive just in time to save Dean from being eaten by ghouls before they go search for Meg.

As the two angels are reluctant to do anything so Dean is the one who actually saves Meg by stealing Ruby's knife out of the demon's hand and stabbing him in the back.

The blonde angel pulls the fire alarm and the four of them wait for Crowley's arrival.

"You should be ghoul scat by now," the king of hell says with a frown before he's suddenly pushed from behind. "Was that really necessary?" He asked as he stood up, brushing his suit off. "I just had this dry-cleaned." He's not surprised to find himself in a devil's trap. "So, to what do I owe the reach-around?"

Meg enters the room. "Crowley."

"Whore."

"Okay, you know what," she uses her own demonic powers to cause Crowley internal injuries.

He coughs up some blood.

"The best torturers never get their hands dirty. Dean wants a word with you."

"What can I do for you, Dean?"

The hunter glared at him. "You know damn well what I want. What have you done with Sam?"

"Lost him, have you? How should I know where he is?"

"Meg?" He nods to the demon.

She happily tortures him some more.

"I don't know." He grunts.

"How do I know you're not lying?" Dean questions.

"You don't. But it doesn't change anything. What good would it do to have that soulless husk back?" Crowley asks him.

Ambriel sighs and both her and Barky exchange looks before the blonde nods. "Fine. Meg, he's all yours."

"Whoa, what are you, crazy? He's our only hope." Dean interjects.

"You heard him. He has no idea where Sam is. He's useless," Barkiel told him.

He reluctantly hands Meg the knife as she steps forward to enter the devil's trap.

"You'll let me back out right?" She asks them.

Dean nods.

Meg turns to Crowley. "This is for Lucifer, you pompous little –"

Crowley only takes an instant to take her down and uses the knife to break the devil's trap before pinning Dean against the wall, smirking at the two angels in the room. "Well what will you two do now?"

Castiel reappears suddenly, carrying a brown sack. "Leave them alone."

"Castiel, haven't seen you all season. You the calvary now?"

"Put the knife down."

Crowley just looks at him, amused. "You that bossy in Heaven? Hear you're losing out to Raphael. The whole affair makes Vietnam look like a roller derby." Then as if just taking notice that the angel boy is actually holding something he asked, "Hey, what's in the gift bag?"

Cas took a skull out of the bag to show him. "You are."

"Not possible." The demon says but he doesn't look as confident as before.

"You didn't hide your bones as well as you should have."

Crowley claps mockingly. "Cookie for you."

"Do you know where Sam is or not?"

"If I could help out in any other-"

"Answer him!" Dean shouts.

"I don't know." The demon admits.

Castiel incinerates Crowley's bones. "Bye bye, King of Hell."

And just like that Crowley is gone.

The other two angels share a look as Meg disappears.

"Well, she's smart, I'll give her that. I was gonna kill her, too." Dean says to no one in particular.

Barky clears her throat and everyone looks at her. "Did anyone else have an intense urge to fuck Cas against the wall when he totally obliterated Crowley?"

Castiel blinks.

Dean stares at her in shock though he's not exactly sure why.

Ambriel smiles nervously. "Well, at least I wasn't alone in that." Not that either of them really would want to have sex with the angel but that had been a serious someone-should-really-fuck-that-angel-because-that-was-such-a-turn-on type moment.

Dean isn't sure why but the image of Cas being fucked against the wall makes a slight blush come to his face.

* * *

**I thought there should've been more on the torture session when Ambriel and Barkiel were kidnapped in chapter 6 so… Check out this one**

To Frustrate Thy Enemy

Summary: 

Part of the "Cousins a Couple Times Removed" universe. What could've happened if Raphael decided to torture Amy and Barkiel together in the same room?

* * *

Next time

Chapter 9: Tainted Grace and the Book of Purgatory

"Are you sure we should leave those two alone?" Dean asked when they reappeared in front of a big house.

The blonde shrugged. "I figure the more exposure she's got to him the better she'll be at holding back the urge to smite him. If she doesn't accidentally strike him down in the process."

He looked at her wide-eyed, seriously worried for his younger brother's life. "You're joking right?"

She smiled at him. "Maybe."

**That's right folks. Sam is finally gonna make an appearance in the next chapter. Unfortunately, Ambriel doesn't seem to like him very much**


	9. Tainted Grace and the Book of Purgatory

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 9:

Tainted Grace and the Book of Purgatory

The plan had a 50-50 chance of working at best but he'd take what he could get.

If Sammy was awake and walking around then by getting him back his soul they hoped Sam would come to them.

Maybe and that was a big maybe, maybe Death would even tell him where his brother was. That was the plan anyway. When he had temporarily died to talk to Death he'd never expected the only thing Death would want in exchange was a day off. Of course, after spending the day doing Death's job he could understand why. Because Dean hadn't lasted a day before he screwed up. But at least Death had decided to give Sam back his soul. Not only that, but Death had said he'd put up a wall to block Sam's memory of hell and let him know his brother's location. Once again he was happy that Amy and Barky were willing to help him travel the distance he would otherwise need a plane to cross quickly to Los Angelus, California. Luckily Sam was still in a coma so it was a cake walk for Barkiel to bring him out of it.

* * *

Sam blinked as he opened his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment at the brightness before opening them again. Where was he?

"Sam? Sammy, are you okay?"

"Dean?" He sat up and looked around to see his older brother by his bedside. "What am I doing in the hospital?"

Dean gave a choked laugh. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Sam frowned, thinking back. "Lucifer. I threw myself into the cage along with Michael." He frowned when he couldn't recall anything else. "What happened?"

"You have been in a coma for over a year."

The younger Winchester glanced over to the two women he hadn't noticed standing in the room.

Dean had tears in his eyes as he went over to hug the pair. "Thanks you guys."

They smiled and hugged him back.

"It was nothing." The blonde shrugged, still smiling.

"We only made a suggestion. You did all the hard work." The black-haired angel added.

Sammy blinked. What the hell? "Who are you?"

The green-eyed hunter pulled away to smile at his brother. "Sam, I'd like you to meet Ambriel," he motioned to the blue-eyed woman, "and Barkiel," he said, motioning to the blonde.

"Dean usually just calls us Amy and Barky though," Barkiel pointed out.

Sam's eyes widened. "You guys are angels?" He suddenly recalled Cas exploding. Were these two his replacements?

Amy stared at him with annoyance. "I thought he was over his awe of angels."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's just that, were you sent as Castiel's replacements?"

The two angels narrowed their eyes at him.

Dean frowned in confusion. "What?" Then he remembered as far as Sam knew Cas had been killed by Lucifer. "Dude, Cas isn't dead."

"He's not?"

Barky rolled her eyes. "It wasn't his time to cease existing so he got put back together again."

Dean looked over at her. He'd never thought to ask about that. Hell, maybe God was doing something. Maybe not a lot but something at least.

* * *

The first thing they did after checking Sam out of the hospital was go back to the Impala so they could drive to Bobby's.

Bobby was happy to see Sam and the four of them ended staying there for a couple weeks to catch up.

It was during this time Dean discovered that Amy was acting weird, almost like she didn't even wanna look at Sam.

Barky told him that while Ambriel really didn't like Sam that such a thing would not stop her from having his back. It would however, stop her from offering to pay for a room for Sam when they traveled cross-country.

When Dean questioned why the angel didn't like Sam Barkiel said it wasn't her place to say though she did reassure him it had nothing to do with Sam being Lucifer's vessel.

Meanwhile, Sam remained oblivious to the dark-haired woman's dislike. He just thought she was a generally grumpy person.

* * *

"Why do I have to ride with them?" Amy whined.

The blonde gave her a look. "You're only complaining because of Sam."

Ambriel pouted, folding her arms over her chest.

"Someone has to keep him in line," she pointed out.

The signs of a smile twitched at her lips. "Are we still talking about the giant?"

Barky just smiled. "Go on. It's not like you won't be able to talk to me."

The blue-eyed angel huffed. "Fine, but only because I want to make sure he doesn't say anything stupid."

* * *

"Is she always like this?" Sam asked as Ambriel appeared in the back seat of the Impala, announcing she'd be riding with them after giving the younger Winchester a look of disgust.

Dean shook his head. "Are you going to tell me what your problem is?" He asked as he started the Impala.

The angel looked away with a huff, "I was under the impression Barkiel told you."

"Yeah well she didn't tell me why." He shot back as he started driving down the road.

She opened her mouth to explain before her jaw shut with a snap. "Maybe later."

The green-eyed hunter sighed and turned on the radio. He smiled at the song that began and with a quick glance at his friend he started to sing.

_I'm at war with the world and they_

_Try to pull me into the dark_

_I struggle to find my faith_

_As I'm slippin' from your arms_

Sammy stared at his brother in shock. He was listening to new music?

Amy smiled and sang the next bit.

_It's getting harder to stay awake_

_And my strength is fading fast_

_You breathe into me at last_

The two of them sang the song together as if they'd done so dozens of times before and Sam felt oddly left out, wondering what other changes he'd find in his brother.

"You better now?" Dean asked her.

She smiled at him. "Thanks Dean."

He smiled at the road ahead. "No problem."

The three of them road in relative silence, the only sound the radio for at least twelve miles before Sam spoke up.

"So did you even try?"

Amy tensed. She knew what was coming and she didn't like it one bit.

"Try?" Dean frowned in confusion.

Sammy looked at his brother. "To live a life…after. You do remember you promised that right?"

"And what a stupid thing it was to make him promise."

Sam frowned, glancing at the angel in the back seat who was once again glaring at him again.

"You could've made him promise to try to be happy despite your absence but instead you assumed to know what was best for him."

The older hunter frowned. "So it was you and Barky."

She turned her head toward him. "Yes. We knew what would've happened if you had actually done what _Sam_," she spat his name, "wanted you to and decided it was unnecessary suffering you didn't need to go through."

Sammy's frown deepened. "Suffering? Life for Dean with Lisa would've been that bad?"

"Ben and Dean would've been very good for each other however, the problem remained that Lisa and Dean's relationship would've been fragile and rocky at best. The only reason Lisa would've put up with Dean would be for the sex and his positive influence on Ben." Amy replied, blue eyes coldly glaring at him.

Well, that sounded really bad compared to the time he'd spent with the two angels. "Well, in that case, thanks for dragging my ass out of there before I even got in." Though he wondered what it would've been like to be a father-figure for Ben.

Sam sat there quietly the rest of the ride.

* * *

Ambriel insisted that Sam and Dean work the case as she need to cool off and wanted to spend some time with Barkiel.

Dean had made a joke about her going through withdrawal, the glare sent his way rolling right off him as he and Sam walked away.

Later they returned and Dean found them a cheap room, opting to share a room with his brother though they would be spending their waking time researching in Amy and Barkiel's suite.

"This can't be possible," Sam said out loud.

"Try me." Dean said.

The blonde angel walked over and looked at the screen over Sammy's shoulder. "Dragons," she read and glanced at Amy who had perked up at the word.

"Definitely not possible."

The blue-eyed angel rolled her eyes. "Oh cuz of course Sam knows everything; even more than angels."

Dean glanced at them as his brother flushed. "Spill, what do you know about dragons?"

Amy tapped her fingertip against her lips for a moment before she turned to him. "Well, you're going to need a very special sword to kill one."

* * *

So after Dean called up Bobby and got the name of a Dr. Visyak he and Barkiel were off, leaving Sam and Amy to find out where the dragon's layer is.

"Are you sure we should leave those two alone?" Dean asked when they reappeared in front of a big house.

The blonde shrugged. "I figure the more exposure she's got to him the better she'll be at holding back the urge to smite him. If she doesn't accidentally strike him down in the process."

He looked at her wide-eyed, seriously worried for his younger brother's life. "You're joking right?"

She smiled at him. "Maybe."

* * *

"Caves, caves, caves," he mumbled to himself as he spread out a map of the area. He glanced up to see the black-haired angel sitting criss-crossed on top of the desk, watching him with an unreadable expression. "You could help. Isn't that why you stayed?"

Her lips twitched. "No. I stayed because Barkiel asked me to. I never said I'd help."

Sam glared at her. "So you're just gonna sit there and let innocent people get hurt just because you don't like me?"

She snorted, amused. "Things have changed since you've been gone. We don't have to be here Sam. We're under no orders to be here. Although we are here to make things easier we will not do all the work for you." Her blue eyes stared coldly. "You're not a child Sam. I shouldn't have to hold your hand when you hunt if you're grown up enough to decide to drink demon blood. You knew it was wrong when you drained a whole demon of its blood just for your revenge and yet you continue to act the spoiled, ignorant, self-righteous child. You've used Dean for your own purposes growing up and he allowed you to do so because you are his brother and he loves you. It is unfortunate that because he loves you he cannot see that the dark path you took was not in any way his fault but yours. Do you want to know the real difference between a good person and a bad person? The good person will try to be better while the bad person will either act as they've always done despite their mistakes and will even become worse over time. And if you weren't Dean's brother I couldn't care less about what would happen to you. It is truly a shame that you've chosen to look down on your brother instead of aspiring to be like him. Maybe things wouldn't have been so horrible for him if you had."

He stared at her, shocked and ashamed because she was right. "Is that why you don't like me? Because I've hurt Dean?"

Ambriel glared at him. "I dislike you because you _haven't learned_! Since you've been back you've been treating Dean exactly the same as you did before. You don't _listen_ to him. You only listen so far before you come up with an opinion for what Dean should do. If he wants your opinion he'll ask. He just wants you to _listen_, to hear what he's going through, and though he'll never admit it, to sympathize."

* * *

When Dr. Visyak opened the door she was surprised to see the blonde woman.

"Oh, this is a friend of mine," he paused, unsure if he should introduce her as an angel or not.

"Amara Lalopa," she smiled, offering her hand.

The woman shook it.

"I'm really here just to advise Mr. Winchester."

Dr. Visyak looked at Dean curiously. "Advise? I didn't know hunters had advisors."

"Yeah, well, we're here because Bobby said you'd know about dragons and Mar thought you'd know where to find a dragon sword."

She turned her gaze on the blonde who smirked. "Well, aren't you a good advisor. Did you already know?"

Amara didn't reply.

Dean looked between the two of them. "Know? Know what?"

Dr. Visyak answered, still looking at the grey-eyed woman, "That I happen to have a dragon blade.

"You have one." He blinked.

She turned around to lead them to the basement. "Finding it took two decades, countless hours, and some really bad sex with an eastern European ambassador, but, yeah."

Both Dean and Amarilla stared at the sword in the stone in the middle of the room in amazement.

"That is not real. Is that real? Is it Excalibur?" He glanced back at the dragon expert.

"No. This...Is the Sword of Brunswick. Love of my life."

Then of course the awe wore off and Dean wondered out loud, "So, uh, what's with the cement shoe?"

"You know, binding sword to stone used to be all the rage. To protect them."

The angel already knew this and rolled her eyes. Swords in stones being all the rage was putting it mildly.

"All right, well, how do we get this puppy out?"

Dr. Visyak laughed. "Well, come on. You know this one. We need a brave knight who's willing to step up and kill the beast."

"Right. All right, well, I'll, uh, give it a whirl. Do you mind?" He asked, walking toward it.

Amara laughed when he couldn't pull it out and fell onto the floor.

"You okay?" The owner of the sword asked, looking the slightest bit amused.

"Never better," he muttered.

You had to be both a knight and pure of heart to pull this particular sword out and sadly, Dean just wasn't a knight. Not technically anyway. "I'll give it a shot." She chuckled as Dean got up. "I can't do any worse than you."

He huffed but stood aside.

The blonde didn't immediately try to pull it out. She first closely observed the sword to make sure it was indeed the Sword of Brunswick. She didn't think the Dr. was wrong but it never hurt to check.

"Are you gonna pull it out or what?" The hunter asked impatiently.

Dr. Visyak frowned, eyes narrowed.

Mar ignored him as she ran a finger along the part of the blade that was visible. Well, she was right. A pure of heart knight was needed. Luckily she was both. She glanced at the Dr. But did that woman know? Sighing, she looked back at the sword and stood up straight, extending her arm. Well, whether she did or not they still needed the sword and she wasn't about to let Dean blow it up. She wrapped her hand around the handle before slowly pulling as if drawing a sword from its sheath. She met no resistance and smiled as she lifted it up with ease. It'd been so long since she'd held a sword. The angel turned and grinned at Dean.

"Whatever, let's just get back to Sam before Amy accidentally kills him."

When they return to the hotel room the blue-eyed angel is lying back on the couch, feet propped up on one end with her arms folded behind her head.

Sammy is at the table on his laptop.

Ambriel cracks an eye open when the pair arrives and yawns. "Took you long enough."

The giant looks up to see his brother and the other angel who is holding what must be the dragon sword.

Barky lifts and sword and grins. "It's too bad we only have the one. I would've enjoyed kicking your ass in another duel."

Amy sniffs and looks away, folding her arms over her chest. "Only because you were born a warrior. You know very well my aptitude is not as well attuned in that regard."

The blonde places the sword on the table before walking over to the angel on the couch and kneeling beside it as she takes Ambriel's hand. "What troubles you my goddess?"

Her head snaps back to her, glaring. "Blasphemer!"

Both Winchesters jump but the other angel doesn't even blink.

The two stare at each other for five long tense minutes before Barkiel sighs.

"You two go on ahead. Ambriel is currently in no condition to safely hunt."

The angel actually growls and neither of the brothers argues because she's scary as fuck when she's angry and her eyes are glowing with power.

After they leave the two angels the blonde summons her own powers to the surface, causing her body to glow in a golden light.

The black-haired woman's power rises and she snarls as a silver glow envelops her, threatening to burst out of control.

* * *

Dean's almost forgotten the mood Amy was in after they've killed the dragons, stolen the treasure and saved the girls, but when he calls the two angels because unlike Sam he knows they'll appreciate the thought of finding treasure they don't appear and he can't help but worry because in all the time he's known the pair they've never ignored a call before. They might not both appear but at least one of them always answers. Not to mention the last time they hadn't appeared when he called he'd found out the pair had been kidnapped by Raphael. Surely it hadn't happened again, had it?

When they finally get back they see a note taped to the angels' door addressed to them.

_Dean and Sam,_

_Amy is still currently unwell so it would be unwise to see her in this state. Don't worry; I'll take care of her. Meet us here for breakfast at the usual time._

_Barkiel_

Dean frowned, even more worried because angels don't get sick. He wants to ask his brother if he noticed anything when they were alone but decides not to bother asking since the combination of the angel's dislike of him and Sam not knowing Amy's natural behavior his brother really couldn't have known anything was wrong.

Sammy remains silent, unsure what to think. Even if the words Ambriel spat at him were because of some weird angel illness it didn't make what she'd said any less true and he resolved to actually change the way he treated his brother.

* * *

The following morning they came into the suite to see the grey-eyed angel cooking in the small kitchen. Sam was surprised but Dean just inhaled the smell of bacon and sausages with a grin.

The older hunter sat down at the table that had a bowl of fruit in the center next to a plate of stacked toast and French toast. After placing some French toast on his plate and covering it in syrup he asked, "So that bad huh?"

Sam glanced at his brother was a confused frown.

Barkiel came over to the table, dropping some of the bacon and sausage on Dean's plate. "You want any Sam?"

"Uh, no thanks." He was surprised she could even cook.

She placed the rest of the bacon on the other two plates before taking the pan back to the kitchen. Then she put some toast on one plate and French toast on the other.

To Sam's surprise she went back into the kitchen and brought back a plate of hash-browns.

The blonde picked up the plate with the French toast before heading out to the bedroom.

"Dude, what did you mean when you asked if it was that bad?"

Dean swallowed the French toast and cleared his throat. "Barky only makes that much hash-browns when Amy's feeling down though before she's always come to the table to eat them." He forked another piece of syrupy French toast. "Of course I've never seen either of them sick before but I didn't think angels could get sick." He stuffed his mouth.

Barkiel returned a short time later and it was then they realized how tired she looked. Sighing, she sat down and started eating from her own plate until she noticed the brothers were staring at her. "What?"

"What's up with Amy? I didn't know you guys could get sick." Dean said in response.

She knew they were going to ask and as much as she wanted to tell them the truth it would reveal they weren't really angels. So, she'd have to come up with the angel equivalent. "You are aware that everyone thought we were dead because we disappeared during the first war, correct?"

He nodded.

The angel grimaced. "It was not for any reason like Gabriel or Balthazar. We left because Ambriel was injured in battle, injured in a way that would've had her killed back then, that if one of Raphael's saw today would put a death sentence on her head." Looking at them she said, "Part of Amy's grace is tainted."

Their eyes widened.

"It's not anywhere near as bad as it was back then but it is still there." Her eyes turned sad. "We've been friends since we were fledglings and I couldn't let them hurt her. So we ran and hid."

"Will she ever," Sam paused. "Will her grace ever go back to the way it was? Is that possible?"

She smiled. "With time. As I said it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be. I've used my own grace all this time to contain the taint for the most part."

Dean comes to a sudden revelation. "Is that why she always sticks close to you and is grumpy when you're apart? Cuz it starts to wear off or something?"

Barkiel smirked. "Well, that's one reason. The other is too personal to tell you."

He looked away with a groan. "Man, I swear you do that just to keep me hanging. Are you ever gonna tell me if you two are together or not?"

Sammy frowned. "Together? Like _together_ together?"

Dean looked away, throwing his hands up as if to say 'I give up' while the blonde angel simply grinned.

They left after breakfast, Ambriel only appearing to get in the Hummer with Barky before they drove off to Bobby's.

* * *

When they arrived at Bobby's Amy offered the Winchesters an uneasy smile and Sam wondered if she knew Barkiel had told them about their reason for leaving the war.

The first thing Bobby did when the boys offered him the book was ask the pair of angels if they could translate it.

The blonde's eyes traveled from the open book to Ambriel and both Dean and Sam realized Amy could.

Sam almost smacked himself. Of course. Ambriel was the angel of communication.

"You up for it?" She asked softly.

If anyone had blinked they would've missed it, the sudden hardened look the dark-haired angel had gave her for a split second before it was gone, replaced by the uneasy smile. "Of course."

The brothers shared a worried glance.

Bobby moved to hand her the book but Amy took a step back after taking one look at it.

She grimaced, looking sick. "I, uh. I'm not touching that." Blue eyes glanced toward Barkiel, pleading. [Oh come on! It's made of human skin!] She shivered in disgust. [That's just beyond disgusting.]

The old hunter frowned. "Why not?"

The grey-eyed angel also had a disgusted expression. Yeah, there was no way either of them were touching that. "Just, leave it open on the desk."

He did so and stood back to see what they would do.

To everyone's surprise Barkiel disappeared and reappeared a moment later with two knitting needles. She handed them to Amy who was still grimacing but sat in the chair and started turning the pages with them.

Bobby rolled his eyes and with a huff, stalked out of the room. "Bunch of idgits."

Dean and Sam were both frowning.

"Okay, care to share why you refuse to touch the book?" The older brother asked.

"The entire book is made of human skin." The blonde angel explained.

Even they gave some expression of ew at that and both left the room, having a sudden urge to wash their hands.

* * *

"This is," Ambriel waved her hand at the book on the desk, looking a bit disturbed as she tried to find a word. "Descriptive," she said finally. "_Very_ descriptive."

Dean snorted. "So what is it? Porn for dragons?"

Amy looked up from the book to him with an intrigued expression. "I don't think I'd mind stumbling on something like that." The deep frown and grimace returned as her gaze settled back on the book. "This though. It's all blood, gore, darkness and I'm definitely wiping all non-general info about this book from my mind because just…" She paused again. "Just wow."

"Well, what is it exactly?" Bobby asked, irritated.

Blue eyes looked up again. "It's a book on Purgatory and an instruction manual on opening a door to it."

"Door to purgatory. Well, I know a demon who would have loved to have known about that. So, how do you open the door?" Dean questioned.

Her expression turned worried. "That's the part of the bad news. It seems they tore that particular page out."

"What's the rest?" Sam asked.

"The door is one way, for letting something out of Purgatory."

Sam wasn't sure he wanted to know but, "Bring something here. What?"

This time Barkiel spoke up. "The Mother."

The hunters all frowned.

Sammy gulped. "Mother? M-mother of what? Mother of dragons?"

"Mother of all," Amy answered.

Dean's frown deepened. "What the hell does "mother of all" mean?"

The dark-haired angel lost all her seriousness as she leaned back in the chair, giving them a what-the-fuck look. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Dean said, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

She looked at the other angel in the room. "I can't-I can't deal with them. Their stupidity has me utterly stumped."

Barky laughed a little. "Mother of all is self-explanatory guys. Mother of all monsters."

Bobby stiffened and the Winchester's eyes widened. Yup, they were in deep shit.

* * *

**At the time I wrote this chapter I wasn't sure if I was going to ever get into the whole issue of an angel's tainted grace so I wrote this.**

More Pure Than an Angel's Grace

Summary:

Branched off from my "Cousins a Couple Times Removed" universe. AU-on the assumption they are angels and things had gone horribly wrong while Dean & Sam hunted the dragons. "You're stronger than I ever was Dean. I couldn't last more then several days but _you_ managed thirty years before you broke."

* * *

Next time

Chapter 10: An Alternate Us

Amy sighs. "He's in shock." She takes a hold of his arm and starts tugging him away. "Come on Misha, we're gonna hitch a ride with Jared and Jensen. At least we know Cliff will have checked to make sure there are no loons before we get in."


	10. An Alternate Us

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 10:

An Alternate Us

It'd been two weeks since the Winchesters had seen any angels, Amy and Barkiel having taken off to concentrate on purifying Ambriel's grace.

Of course, naturally that meant an angel was due to pop in at any moment. And here comes one now.

"Hello, boys. You've seen 'the Godfather,' right?"

"Balthazar..." Dean started, unsure what to say about the angel's random appearance as he started going through Bobby's things.

"You know, the end, where Michael Corleone sends his men to kill his enemies in one big, bloody swoop?" The angel asks as he finds a container of salt and pours it into a bowl on Bobby's desk.

"Hey!" Dean said, trying to get his attention.

But the angel just continues on as if Dean hadn't spoken. "'dead sea brine.' good, good, good. You know, Moe Greene gets it in the eye, and Don Cuneo gets it in the revolving door?"

"I said hey," the older brother repeats himself.

Balthazar acknowledges him but only just. "You did. Twice. Good for you. Blood of lamb. Blood of lamb," he says, going to Bobby's refrigerator. "Beer, cold pizza. Blood of lamb. Yes! Blood of lamb!"

Sam finally decides to speak and asks, "Why are you talking about 'the Godfather'?"

He brings the jar of blood over to Bobby's desk with the rest of the things he's gathered. "Because we're in it - right now, tonight. And in the role of Michael Corleone - The archangel Raphael."

"You mind telling us what you mean?" Dean questions, wondering why angels can never simply be blunt and just say what they mean rather than being cryptic and secretive.

He empties the contents out of Bobby's desk drawer. "Bone of a lesser saint. This vertebra will do very nicely. Your Mr. Singer does keep a beautiful pantry."

"Wait, Raphael is after you?" Dean tries again.

"Raphael is after us all. You see, he's consolidated his strength. And now he's on the move." The angel answers as he starts mixing things together.

"And where's Cas?" Sam asks.

"Oh, Cassie? He is deep, deep underground. So, good old Raffy put out a hit list on every last Samaritan who helped our dear Cas - Including both of you. And so much more importantly, me. See, he wants to draw Cas out in the open."

Then suddenly both Ambriel and Barky are in the room and Balthazar finally glances up but only for a moment as he has more important things to do. Besides if Castiel thought they were trustworthy that was good enough for him.

"We're going with them," the two informed the other angel.

"Fine, whatever," he muttered, opening his jacket to reveal a bloodstain.

"Huh, did Virgil do that to you?" The blonde angel questioned.

"Run into him on the way here, did you?" He finally finds what he's looking for and pulls out some keys before handing them to Sam. "Here, take these."

Barky shrugs, a smug smile on her lips as she replies. "We may have knocked him out of the air on the way here.

Balthazar laughs at that, drawing a blood sigil on the window.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Sammy asks him.

"Run with it," is all he gets to say before he's thrown across the room as the infamous Virgil appears.

And before the angel has time to turn to them Amy and Barkiel pull the Winchesters through the window. Surprisingly, they all land on a mattress on a TV show set.

"Cut!"

"Jensen, Jared, Andrea, Atlanta! Outstanding! That was just great." Bob Singer told them.

Ambriel turned to the hunters and said, "Guys, cool it. Just go along with it and we'll meet back here after okay?"

"After what?" Sam asked before he was pulled away by some woman calling him Jared.

Dean is soon also pulled away by a makeup artist who keeps calling him Jensen.

The two angels wait until someone also pulls them away for whatever needs to be done.

* * *

Amy and Barky grin because Dean's complaining about the makeup he discovered he was wearing just as Sam joins them.

"So where the hell is this place?" Dean finally asks them.

"Different universe. Obviously one where we're all actors and the lives of the Winchesters are apparently a TV show," Ambriel informs them.

"Why?"

"Why what?" The blonde questions.

"Why would anyone wanna watch our lives?" Dean asks them seriously.

Barkiel rolled her eyes, "Because there's a different universe for everything so everyone's lives are probably a TV show in some universe."

Well, at least that made sense. It existed simply because it was a possibility.

"Some things don't seem to change though," Amy mumbled.

Dean frowned. "How did anything possibly stay the same?"

"Well, your name here, Jensen Ackles means 'God is gracious' and 'always ready for battle' and Sam's name Jared, means 'ruler." Then she frowned. "Though I have no clue what Padelecki means."

"What about you two?" Sammy asked.

"Well," Barkiel started. "My name here is Andrea Claramond which happens to mean warrior and bright protector."

"Mine is Atlanta Raylene. It means huntress and wise protector."

"Huh. Weird," was all Dean said though he did admit the names definitely suited them.

When they exit the studio Amy and Barky have the sad job of informing Dean the Impala is just a prop. All of them.

"Do you think we should call Cas?" Sam suggested.

"If he's really underground I don't think he'll be able to answer or even really hear-"

Dean cuts Ambriel off when he sees Castiel a short distance away and runs over to him. "Cas? Cas! Hey, Cas! Oh, thank god. What is all this, huh? W-w-what did Balthazar do to us?"

Sam, Amy and Barkiel having followed him are also there.

"To keep you out of Virgil's reach, he's cast you into an alternate reality, a universe similar to ours in most respects yet dramatically different in others." He answered.

"Told you," Ambriel can't help saying.

The blonde snorts.

"Do you have the key?"

Sam hands it over to him. "Yeah. So, uh, what does this thing do, anyway?"

"It opens a room."

Barkiel rolls her eyes. "Well, you're specific."

"What's in the room?" Dean asks, ignoring the other angel.

"Every weapon Balthazar stole from heaven."

Both Amy and Barky are trying to hold in their amusement in at this point but hey, why burst the hunters' bubble?

"He gave it to us?"

"To keep it safe until I could reach you. With those weapons, I have a chance to rally my forces."

"Oh. Okay, good. Yeah. So, now, uh, what's the deal with all this TV crap?" Sammy asks.

"Pardon?"

The dark-haired woman slaps her forehead. "Did we not just go over this? Different universe. How much time is it gonna take for that fact to penetrate your brains?"

"Man," he pulls out his script. "Did they put out new pages?"

That's when Dean turns back to Cas. "New what?"

Amy groans, tilting her head up as she puts her hands over her face. "Morons. God help me. They're utter morons."

"Are you guys okay?"

"Give me that," Dean takes away the script and reads it. "What is - these are words in a script. This isn't Cas."

Barkiel sighed. "As we keep trying to tell you, different universe. And obviously since it's a show naturally there's gonna be a-"

"His name's Misha. Misha?" Dean interrupts.

"You guys want to run lines, or...?" Misha trails off.

"Trying to get a better feeling of the characters by staying in character," Ambriel explains and understanding spreads across his face. "So we're acting like we just appeared in this universe as our characters."

He nods but then hints to the guys who are walking away. "Why didn't they just say that?"

The grey-eyed woman shrugged. "I thought it was obvious."

Misha smiled. "You guys! You really punked me!" He shouts to the brothers. "I'm totally gonna tweet this one."

"You do that Misha," the angels smile as they move to catch up with Dean and Sammy.

He pulled out his phone and started typing. "Hola, mishamigos." He says out loud as he typed. "J-squared... Got me good. Really...Starting to feel... Like one of the guys."

They caught up to them just as they were entering Jensen's trailer and had fun going through Jensen's stuff, allowing Sam and Dean to do whatever. It was only when they started making their way back to the set had the two stepped in and Barkiel used a rolled up newspaper to hit them both for thinking they'd find anything real they could use for Balthazar's spell. Then they'd had to stop them from getting into one of the fake Impalas.

Of course then the four of them had to figure out how the hell to leave. Luckily, as actors in this universe, people tended to hold your hand through everything.

"You know whereabouts you want me to drop you off?" Cliff, the driver asked the four of them.

"Oh, we're just gonna tag along with Jared," Ambriel answered.

"Yup, we bet the guys they couldn't keep in character for the next forty-eight hours." The blonde added. "So we're gonna be keeping an eye on them."

Amy leaned forward and whispered, "Plus, we heard Jared's got an alpaca. I mean who seriously chooses one of those things for a pet?"

Cliff was relieved. He was beginning to think there was something wrong with Jared and Jensen, but a bet he could understand. And Atlanta did have a point. Who wanted an alpaca as a pet? "All right." He cracked a grin when the dark-haired woman muttered something about Jared being whipped while the guys continued their impression of the Winchesters.

* * *

The awkward thing about meeting the actor that played Ruby was not that she was married to Jared. No, the thing that totally threw Ambriel was that apparently Atlanta and Andrea came over quite often and were even friends with both Jared and …the actor that played Ruby.

Fake Ruby had even laughed as Amy had playfully hit Dean with Barkiel's newspaper to declare the camel was an alpaca. Hell, she'd even been nicer when the two angels told her about the fake bet which really was ingenious because those two were amazingly awkward at the moment.

So after ordering some stuff online needed for the spell Dean got settled in on the couch and Sam left the room only to run into his …wife.

Barkiel couldn't resist sticking her head out of the room to smirk at Fake Ruby and ask her to make sure Sam stayed in character to which she received a wink from the woman, making poor Sammy gulp.

* * *

The following morning Cliff drove them all to the airport so Sam could pick up the package and Amy and Barky had reassured him that it was for the bet and it was fine and no, of course they wouldn't make them do anything illegal to win the bet. Of course, Cliff wasn't all that reassured.

* * *

The angels hung out with Sammy as Dean went to ask Bob if they could use the set by themselves for an hour. And of course they were all too happy when Misha arrived and asked what was in the box.

"I bought part of a dead person," was all Sam said.

"Oh, cool." Was all Misha said before turning to Barkiel and Amy. "So are they still method acting?"

"Yup, we turned it into a bet. Said we didn't think they could last forty-eight hours." Barky explained.

Misha nodded.

Dean returns to tell them that unfortunately they're going to have to do a little acting.

Not wanting the show to suffer Ambriel and Barky give them the best advice possible. First, don't act. They already are the characters so all they should do is act like its real. Forget the cameras and just, be themselves.

It's doesn't go very well. But it wasn't absolutely horrible. Dean did a lot better than Sam did and between Ambriel and Barkiel poor Misha couldn't stop laughing, which was their way of making it seem like Dean and Sam weren't doing too bad.

At one point Dean decided to hell with it and just joined in which made Bob eventually decide this would just go straight into the bloopers and allowed them to get whatever was wrong with them out of their systems.

When they're finally done Dean and Sam put the spell together and after the four of them crash through the window and still see the TV props Amy shouts that she never gets tired of crashing through fake windows. They then all go to Jensen's trailer to figure out what went wrong and after the two angels fail to fly away they decide magic just doesn't exist in this universe. Just as they walk back on the set and are contemplating leaving the country Virgil shows up and tries and luckily fails to use some angel mojo before Dean and Sam start beating the crap out of him as Barky and Ambriel sit back and watch. At least until the stunt crew notices and holds Sam and Dean back, allowing Virgil to escape.

* * *

Misha gets into his car that night but hasn't even closed the door before he's tweeting. "Ever get that feeling...Someone's in the backseat? Frowny face."

Virgil, who is in the backseat, puts a knife to Misha's throat but before he can say anything he feels something sharp go through his foot and screams, looking down to see a knife sticking up through the floor of the car and through his foot.

"Ha! I'm secret agent angel bitch!" Ambriel declares from underneath the car as Barky drags Misha out of the car before locking the doors, turning the car on and placing a rock on the gas. Amy slips out from underneath the car just as the blonde slams the door shut and the car takes off. "Tell Raph she needs better minions!" She shouts toward the fast moving car.

"What? Why was that guy- What just happened?" Misha asks, freaked out.

The blonde places a hand on his shoulder. "That Misha, was a loon, a dangerous loon. The kind that slit people's throats to make a phone call."

"What?"

Amy sighs. "He's in shock." She takes a hold of his arm and starts tugging him away. "Come on Misha, we're gonna hitch a ride with Jared and Jensen. At least we know Cliff will have checked to make sure there are no loons before we get in."

* * *

"Guys!" Dean calls them over as they start walking to where Cliff is waiting, barely sparing Misha a glance. "Virgil has the key."

The dark-haired angel's head drops down to her chest and she nearly sobs. What was the world coming to? "Well, at least the next time we see him he won't be running away," she mutters.

Barkiel grins. "Nope, but I bet he'll be hopping mad."

And that causes Ambriel to give a shorted laugh before she explains to Sam and Dean what happened with Misha and Virgil as they all scramble in the vehicle with Barky sitting on Amy's lap because the guys are too immature.

* * *

Fake Ruby just gives them all this look when they arrive and asks, "Are we going to be inviting the whole cast here eventually?" But of course as soon as Ambriel and Barky explain how some guy pulled a knife on Misha she doesn't say a word except to tell Misha that he's safe at the mansion.

Luckily for Misha, Amy and Barkiel know just how to distract people. They decided this time they'd used their latest discover of supernatural videos on youtube.

* * *

** {Supernatural}**

** youtu. be/ alCjGALlokI**

(take spaces out)

* * *

The drama queen video was a big hit. It cheered Misha up and although Dean and Sam protested their parts in the video they did enjoy the involvement of certain other characters.

The two angels didn't tell the brothers they planned on downloading some videos to take with them to show Castiel or rather Dean and Cas at the same time. Seeing the pair's reaction to the slash videos would no doubt provide them with some entertainment.

The discussion on what to do about Virgil had to wait until Misha and Fake Ruby went to sleep so that meant Sam was also going to be absent from the discussion, but it'd be no trouble to tell him their plans in the morning.

"Well, knowing Virgil's side I wouldn't be surprised if he killed some poor sap off the street so he could use their blood to make a long distance call to Raphael," Ambriel said.

Barky nodded. "Yup and because magic generally doesn't work here Raph will have to redo the spell on her end, most likely opening it up where we came out since that's where it originally opened."

"Why not where he came out?" Dean questioned.

"I'm thinking he actually piggy backed the one we used. We don't know how long it stayed open on the other end after all." The dark-haired angel explained.

He nodded. "Okay, I'll buy that. So all we have to do is wait for that angel dick to come back and stop him when he does."

"And since Raphael will be opening the gate we'll be able to jump back and hopefully Cas will be there to take the key and if not," The blonde paused, glancing at Amy for a moment before looking back at Dean. "Amy and I may just have to see how we fare in a battle against an archangel."

* * *

The four of them didn't have to wait long before Virgil showed up.

Misha hid just like Atlanta and Andrea had told him to when he spotted the guy who had tried to attack him the night before. He didn't question how the two went straight for him considering they'd certainly won the night before and couldn't help but smile as he recalled Andy's words from the night before. The loon certainly was hopping mad.

Virgil shoots at Dean and Sam, not seeing the two angels before one of them jumps on his back, effectively knocking him to the ground while the other grabs the key and kicks the gun away. Really, with that injury to his foot he hadn't stood a chance.

"Look!" Sam shouts, pointing to the glowing sigil on the window. "Come on, let's go."

The four of them all jump through the window and find themselves on lying in the parking lot of a motel.

"You," Raphael started, looking at Amy and Barky.

"You," Barkiel said mockingly.

She frowned. "I don't know what you two are but you certainly aren't angels."

Ambriel rolled her eyes, "Oh give it up Raph. With Raziel on our side did you really think we'd be all that easy to kill?"

Dean and Sam were now standing, looking at the archangel.

"Raphael? Nice meatsuit. Dude looks like a lady." Dean commented.

Amy snorted just before Raphael squeezed her fist which caused the Winchesters to bend over in pain.

"You never could take a joke," the blonde said, waving the key. "Looking for this?"

"Give me the key."

She grinned. "Okie dokie." Without a second thought she tossed it over.

Sam and Dean gasped for air as the pain stopped.

"And that will open you a locker at the Albany bus station," Balthazar stated after appearing behind Raph.

"Really."

He grinned at her. "You see, I needed a modest decoy to make it more convincing."

"Give me the weapons," she demanded in an even tone.

His grin almost turned into a smirk. "Sorry, darling. They're gone."

"What!?" She shouted, angry.

Balthazar turned semi-serious. "I said, too bloody late. You see, they were so well-hidden that I needed time to find them. So, I volunteered these two marmosets for a game of fetch with Virgil. Having the other two tag along was a bonus. Made it even more believable." He smiled at them. "Thank you, boys and girls."

Barkiel tipped a non-existent hat at him, returning the smile.

"You've made your last mistake," Raphael told him.

But Balthazar didn't look all that worried as he replied. "Oh, I've got a few more up my sleeve, honey."

"Step away from him, Raphael," a voice spoke from behind and off to the side of Dean and Sam.

"Castiel."

"I have the weapons now. Their power is with me." Then he started glowing as if to prove he was telling the truth. "If you don't want to die tonight, back off," he said as the glow faded.

With the sound of fluttering wings she was gone.

Then Castiel took both Dean and Sam back to Bobby's house, Amy and Barkiel appearing with them a split second later.

"Cas, what the hell? Wait, wait, you were in on this?" Sammy asked, looking from Castiel to the other two angels. "All of you knew he was using us as a diversion?"

"It was Balthazar's plan." Cas informed them.

Ambriel shrugged indifferently, "We thought it wouldn't be a problem. Four of us against one powerless angel. It's not like we were in any more danger than we usually are. In fact, we were probably safer."

"You still should've told us," Dean said stubbornly.

"I'm sorry," he replied. "But there simply was no time."

"Yeah," Barky spoke up to defend him. "I mean if we hadn't just come back from seeing Raziel we wouldn't have known either. We were lucky to catch you before you left."

"Whatever," the older Winchester muttered, sticking his hands in his pockets as he looked away.

"Really Dean, if you'd really been forced into another universe without a plan to bring you back poor Castiel here would've been freaking out until he was able to pull you back," the blonde angel said with a grin.

Cas frowned but didn't dispute this. Surely Dean knew he'd always do his best to protect him.

"He better." And Dean would deny until even after he died but he really had pout when he'd said that.

* * *

**Something I wrote after this chapter and was honestly too lazy to go back and put in**

Because Even Angels Should Get a Little Action

Summary:

Part of the "Cousins a Couple Times Removed" universe. Barkiel discovers what the fans want most. References to "Angel Shipping" Destiel, Sabriel, Bambriel

* * *

Next time

Chapter 11: Of Sunken Ships and Flaming Birds

Dean snorts. If he'd had any doubts about Amy and Barky disliking Rachel they were now gone after the faces the two had been making at her behind Castiel's back.


	11. Of Sunken Ships and Flaming Birds

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 11:

Of Sunken Ships and Flaming Birds

While Dean, Sam, Bobby, Rufus, Samuel and Gwen were following The Mother's trail Barkiel and Ambriel were busy having a talk with Balthazar.

"Really Balthazar? You really wanna save the Titanic just because you hate the movie?" Amy asked him.

"Yes. Honestly that God-awful Celine Dion song makes me want to smite myself." He told them.

The black-haired angel pouted. "Hey! I happen to like that song!"

Balthazar snorted. "Yeah, well, you would. I bet the two of you even saw it on a date when it first came out."

She blushed slightly, "It wasn't a date."

Barkiel rolled her eyes. "You two are missing the point. The Titanic cannot be unsunk."

"Sure it can."

"No. It can't. Because if you unsink the Titanic Atropos is gonna be pissed enough to take out Dean and Sam," the angel explained to him.

"Besides," Ambriel added. "The only reason you would save the ship in the first place is because Cas allowed it and you know he won't be happy if it makes Dean a target."

He sighed, put out. "Alright, fine. I won't save the ship."

"Yay!" The two of them hugged him.

"Wanna see the videos of Cas we brought back from the alternate reality?" The blonde asked.

Balthazar chuckled and hugged them both back. "You two are really something else."

"I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

So the Winchesters and Bobby were set on killing the Mother after Samuel, Gwen and Rufus being killed during their last run in with one of their creations and as Samuel had been Sam and Dean's grandfather Ambriel and Barkiel figured it was only fair if they showed the boys the Campbell library.

It was Bobby that finally found something. "Any of you jokers ever heard anything about a Phoenix?"

Unnoticed by the others Amy's eyes went directly to the blonde before focusing on Bobby.

"River, Joaquin, or the giant flaming bird?" Dean questioned.

"It says here that the ashes of a Phoenix can burn the mother." Bobby told them.

Barky bit her lower lip.

"Great. Where do we get one?" The older Winchester asked.

The blue-eyed angel cleared her throat. "Um, Bar-"

"No," the blonde cut her off.

"But-"

"No." [Do I ask you to get your familiars killed?]

[You made me personally kill a turkey.] Amy pointed out.

[You never complained about killing them before.]

"Guys?"

[That's because we couldn't buy food at a store. You made me kill the last one for yours and Dean's amusement knowing full well how hard it is to do so when it's unnecessary.]

Barkiel sighed. [I didn't make you and it wasn't like we didn't eat it. You could've said no.] When she didn't hear a reply she added. [I'm sorry I made you kill the turkey. I promise not to do it again.]

"Amy? Barky?"

She smiled. [Apology accepted.]

"Guys!" Dean shouted at the pair who shot him glares.

"There's no need to yell Dean. We're right here." Ambriel told him.

"So do you guys know where we can find a phoenix?" Sammy asked before his brother could do anything more than narrow his eyes at the angels.

"No," they replied together, earning an eye roll and silently muttered 'idgits' from Bobby.

"What was with all the staring?" Dean asked.

"We were having a discussion on boundaries that shouldn't be crossed."

He stared at them, obviously suspicious. "Through just staring?"

Barkiel gave him a slightly surprised look. "I'm surprised Dean. I would've thought with all the staring between you and Cas that you two did the same thing."

Amy giggled as the hunter glared at her, obviously a bit embarrassed.

"We don't stare at each other," he muttered, making Sam snort. Dean glared at his brother. "Shut up, we don't!"

"Uh huh," the blonde said in amusement.

Bobby sighed in exasperation. "Can we please get back to finding something on phoenixes?"

* * *

This time it's Dean that finds something. "Hey guys, check this out. March 5, 1861. Sunrise, Wyoming. Gun killed a Phoenix today. Left a pile of smoldering ash."

"Huh, the journal of Samuel Colt," Amy says, reading the title written on the front of the book. She looks up at Barkiel. "Go figure."

The angel rolls her eyes.

Bobby gives Ambriel a look. "You're not surprised they're the relatives of Samuel Colt?"

She mirrors his look. "You mean to tell me with how involved these two were with the apocalypse and such that you _are_ surprised?"

He seems to think about it. "Not really. At this point I don't think I'd even really be surprised to find out unicorns exist."

Amy grins at him. The old hunter had no idea.

"Would you boys stop fiddling over that book and tell us what he says about the Phoenix? What does it look like? Has it got feathers?"

Dean shoots one finale glare at his brother as he cradles the journal. "It just says Phoenix."

"Did he say where he tracked it?" Bobby tries again.

He frowned. "No."

"All right, so I guess we got to find one of our own, whatever it is." Sammy says, disappointed they're not really any further than they were before. Well, at least it was proof Phoenixes existed.

Then Dean gets this grin on his face. "I know where we can find one. March 5, 1861. Sunrise, Wyoming. We'll "'Star Trek IV' this bitch."

The dark-haired angel brightens up. "I love that movie! Spock was hilarious." Suddenly she looked thoughtful. "Actually, now that I think of it he was rather a lot like Castiel."

The older Winchester frowned, mentally comparing the two. "Huh, weird." Because Cas had been rather similar to that in the beginning.

"Is somebody gonna explain what you two are talking about?" Bobby questioned.

Barkiel sighed. "Essentially he suggests to time travel to the past, meet up with Samuel Colt, hunt the Phoenix and haul back its ashes."

"That's a reasonable plan?"

"We got a guy who can swing it." But he pauses just before deciding to pray and looks at the other two angels. "Unless you two could…"

The blue-eyed angel sighs in exasperation. "Dean, do you not recall what happened when Cas tried time travel when he was cut off from heaven?"

He frowned. "Oh, yeah. Guess not then." It didn't hurt to ask though. So he looked up and started to pray. "Castiel. The, uh, fate of the world is in the balance. So, come on down here. Come on, Cas, 'I Dream of Jeannie' your ass down here pronto. Please."

An angel appears in the vessel of a blonde business woman.

Barkiel and Ambriel shared a brief glance before watching her.

"Jeannie?" Dean asked.

"Rachel," she corrects. "I understand you need some assistance? How can I help you?"

The hunter actually ponders this. He doesn't want to have to bother Cas but then again he didn't know if this woman was trustworthy enough. So he glanced back at the other two angels in the room to see them both watching Rachel in a way that, to someone who hadn't been on the road with them for so long, didn't look suspicious so much as merely focused. He knew immediately that for whatever reason the two of them didn't trust this angel and that was more than good enough for him. "Well, uh, we kind of need to talk to the Big Kahuna."

"I'm here on Castiel's behalf."

Barky rolled her eyes and muttered, "Obviously."

"Where is he?" Sam asked, curious.

"Busy."

Dean gave her a look. "Busy?"

Ambriel snorted. Again, obviously but Castiel was pretty much always busy. It'd never stopped him from coming down before.

"Yes," Rachel replied, her eyes moving over to the two angels who weren't looking directly at her anymore. She'd heard the rumors, that those two weren't angels. Castiel said they were trustworthy and were staying with the Winchesters to protect them but she wasn't sure she quite believed him either. Not after what she'd heard he might be doing.

"Well, we've got a line on the mother of freaking everything, so –" The hunter tried explaining before he was cut off.

"I'm sure your issue's very important." She said, eyes returning to the human. "But Castiel is currently commanding an army, so –"

"So we get stuck with Miss Moneypenny." He comments.

Rachel turns stern. "So you need to learn your place."

It's at this point Amy immediately stand, eyes narrowed at the angel. "And you need to learn that humans are not to be looked down upon. If you knew anything about Castiel you'd know this."

"And if you're really Ambriel you'd know how strained things are with the war," she shot back. "He cannot afford to come down here every time these petty, entitled little pie-"

"Rachel. That's enough," Castiel says, having just appeared.

Rachel turned to him. "I told you I'd take care of this."

"It's all right. You can go."

She almost gives him a look. "You're staying?" Over his shoulder she sees Barkiel sticking her tongue out at her.

"Go," he commands calmly. "I'll come when I can."

Rachel disappears with the familiar sound of flapping wings.

Dean snorts. If he'd had any doubts about Amy and Barky disliking Rachel they were now gone after the faces the two had been making at her behind Castiel's back. Of course now that Cas was facing them they took on completely innocent expressions. "Wow. Friend of yours?"

"Yes," he replies, looking around as if embarrassed by the other angel's behavior. "She's, uh, my lieutenant. She's… committed to the cause," he tells them in an attempt to justify her presence before deciding to change the subject and pretend like he doesn't hear his sisters laughing. "Now, what do you need?" After hearing the plan he admits to himself that with something as important as this he would've come down anyway.

Everyone except Castiel is surprised when the Ambriel and Barkiel insist on staying. He knows they understand the magnitude of power required to do this and that they merely wish to extend Dean and Sam's time to find the phoenix. What does surprise him though is when they tell him they're going to be following him but will not interfere until he needs them. This naturally causes him to worry because undoubtedly they know he will need them but despite his concern he does not ask. It is unlikely they would tell him when the knowledge came from Raziel. The moment he feels the summons he knows that this is most likely it, the reason Ambriel and Barkiel decided to follow him.

"We need to talk," Rachel says as they stand in an empty warehouse.

"You summoned me here?"

"Castiel, I've been hearing things. Things I don't want to believe. Just tell me if it's true."

To his credit he remains visibly unmoved. "If what's true?"

"You know. Your dirty little secret," Rachel tells him.

It is then he sees Barkiel behind her.

"Which one?" She questions with a sly grin.

Rachel whirls around to face her only to catch sight of Amy.

"Too true Barky. Which one? Off the top of my head I can think of two, maybe three." The dark-haired angel smirks.

"And would that include the two of you?" Rachel asks them.

"Oh Rachel, Rachel," Ambriel sighs, shaking her head.

"Ye of little faith." The grey-eyed angel adds, clearly laughing as they both begin to circle her. "Tell me, what is the universe coming to when angels don't even have faith in those they choose to follow?"

She tenses, now knowing that these two –whatever they may be- are loyal to Castiel. "What he is doing is wrong."

Castiel watches them as they continue circling Rachel like a pair of predators on a hunt.

Amy tisks. "Whatever he is doing, we cannot interfere. Even now we have only appeared to stop you from merely injuring him. You were never meant to win your attempt at taking his life."

Rachel narrows her eyes. "And what are you? I don't believe you are really Ambriel or she Barkiel. They died in the war."

Barkiel laughs, "Faking one's death merely requires a bit of creativity, something you seem to be surely lacking in."

Castiel sees an angel sword slip into Ambriel's hand and it goes unnoticed by Rachel who has her attention of Barkiel. He does not wish Rachel to die but he knows it cannot be helped for his sister would seek to kill him should she live.

Ambriel makes it quick. She simply runs up behind Rachel, grasps her shoulder and stabs her in her heart before slowly lowering her down to the ground.

He frowns, now recognizing the sword as Raphael's. "How did you get Raphael's sword?"

The blue-eyed angel shrugs. "Kinda stole it when we escaped from her."

Bringing Sam and Dean back goes smoothly but unfortunately the idiots forgot the ashes.

"You gotta send us back," Dean starts when Barkiel hits him with a rolled up newspaper.

"Sam, why don't you go answer the door," Amy suggests, much to the confusion of all the humans in the room.

"The door? But no one's at the-"

Suddenly there's a knock and everyone stares at her.

"Sam, door!" She reminds him, grabbing Barkiel's rolled up newspaper to smack him over the head.

"Oh, right," he says, leaving to answer it.

Ambriel just grins at Dean who is currently giving her a what-the-fuck look. "I'm psychic," she jokes.

When Sammy comes back he's holding a package and opening a letter. "Dear Sam, I got this address and date off your thingamajig, and I thought the enclosed might come in handy. Regards, Samuel Colt." He opens the package to reveal a bottle full of ashes.

"Is that what I think it is?" Bobby questions.

"Ashes of a Phoenix," Dean answers with a smile. "Which means we can take the fight to her."

Ambriel and Barkiel exchange looks.

[You think he could've sent more but instead he sends this one little bottle? What the hell did he do with the rest of it?]

Barkiel inwardly shrugs. [Maybe that was all that was left after it was reborn.]

Amy tilts her head, the image of a naked man rising out of the ashes causing a look of disbelief to appear on her face.

The blonde gives her a look. [Don't be stupid. If anything came out of those ashes afterwards it was a naked baby.]

The angel stared at her friend for a moment before they both burst out laughing, much to the confusion of everyone else.

Cas frowned slightly in confusion, having no idea why the idea of a naked baby rising out of the ashes, sprouting wings and twirling around after gurgling happily would be so humorous.

* * *

**For a list of some youtube videos Amy and Barkiel showed Balthazar check my profile. Sorry about the bad link in the last chapter. Hopefully it's fixed now. And if not, well, I'll make sure to fix it next week. Also, I've made a story that takes place in a 'world where Supernatural is a show'**

Jensha

Summary:

Misha's thoughts on Destiel and Andrea and Atlanta plot

* * *

Next time

Chapter 12: Mother's Revelations

Amy is tired. Not exhausted thank god but still actually physically tired. Because she's been walking all day to get into town. True, she didn't have to. Eve or no Eve that field she erected around the town and a couple miles out of town would've slowed her down but definitely not have stopped her and honestly it would've only slowed down one method of travel. Still, she needed a good walk considering what would have to be done once she gets to the police station. Plus, the fact that both her and Barky's cover will be blown tonight once they encounter Eve.


	12. Mother's Revelations

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 12: 

Mother's Revelations

From here on in things are going to get serious but neither Barkiel nor Ambriel can tell anyone because they both know they aren't supposed to be here, helping Dean, Sam, Bobby and Castiel. But they made an agreement with Raziel that allows them to be there as long as they don't change any major events, as long as God's, that dick Sam-I-Am's plan is mostly kept on track. Even though they wish they could keep their friends safe and fight their battles for them they hold back because they've seen the plan themselves and know their friends need to fight and become stronger. And honestly? Dean would probably be beyond pissed if they started treating him like a fragile human who needs protection.

Sam, Bobby, Amy and Barkiel walk into the basement to see Dean.

"How's it going?" The dark-haired angel asks, leaning against the table the hunter's working at.

"Five shells," he grumbles. "That's how it's going."

Sammy sighs.

Barky leans over his shoulder. "What kinda shell casings did you use? Ones for an elephant gun?" Because, hell, a bottle of ashes was a lot to fit in those shells Dean was using.

Green eyes glare back at her over his shoulder and she smiles back. "I just hope they work."

"Why wouldn't they work?" Bobby asked.

Barky steps back and allows Dean to turn around.

He takes some of the ashes and rubs them on his arm. "See, nothing."

"Whoa," is all Sam says.

No one notices the blonde angel taking out a bottle of holy water before it's suddenly being poured on Dean's head.

"Hey! What the hell!" He sputters, automatically standing up before using his shirt to wipe his face.

The younger Winchester snorts in amusement while Bobby looks exasperated.

"What the hell was that for?" Dean asks, glaring at Barkiel.

"Well, what do you know. Holy water doesn't work on you. Guess it only works on demons," she answers nonchalantly.

"Of course it doesn't work on me!"

"Exactly Dean, why did you think the ashes of a Phoenix would work any differently," Amy points out.

Realization finally dawns on him. "Oh."

"Idgit," Bobby mutters.

"Well, have you found Eve yet?" The green-eyed hunter directs his question toward Bobby.

"I've been looking, but I'm thinking maybe it's time you made a call."

He lifted up his arms in a what-the-hell motion and took a few steps forward. "Why has it always got to be me that makes the call, huh? It's not like Cas lives in my ass. The dude's busy."

Ambriel snorted and Barky smirked as Castiel appeared directly behind Dean.

The blonde angel bent over slightly and tilted her head as if actually trying to find some evidence to determine whether or not Castiel lived in Dean's ass.

This caused Sam to bit his lip in an effort to keep a straight face.

Dean, as always, sensed him and immediately spun around; not surprised by his presence but choice of the location of appearance. "Cas, get out of my ass!"

"I was never in your," he pauses when Dean gives him a look and the other two angels begin snickering. Instead he looks at Sam and Bobby and questions, "Have you made any progress in locating Eve?"

"Well we were gonna ask you about that." The old hunter admits.

"No, I've looked, but she's hidden from me. She's hidden from all angels." Castiel replies, his gaze slowly turning onto the other two angels.

Barkiel has a very amused expression as she looks at Amy who's looking everywhere but at the people looking at her.

"Amy?" Dean calls. "Will Raziel tell you?"

She huffs with a pout. "Oh fine," the black-haired angel nearly whines. "He wouldn't tell me where she was but he did give me a name on who would know."

"And?" Bobby questions when she doesn't immediately say anything.

Ambriel glances at the blonde briefly before looking back at the humans. "Do you know someone that goes by the name Lenore?"

"Lenore?" Sammy frowns. That name felt familiar.

"She's supposed to be a vampire," she added.

"A vampire? Raziel expects to ask a vampire for help?" Dean asked, obviously not likely the idea.

Barkiel frowns. "He wouldn't suggest her if he didn't think she'd help."

His expression darkened, "I didn't exactly benefit the last time he sent us after vampires."

Amy rolled her blue eyes, releasing a frustrated sigh. "He didn't send us after those vampires and if it weren't for him you'd be dead. Besides, one vampire is hardly a danger with three angels in the room."

Sammy and Bobby frowned, wondering what that story was about.

"Fine," he said begrudgingly. They did have a point.

* * *

Castiel appears in the basement with Lenore in his grasp.

"Lenore," Sam says, finally recognizing her as the vampire who refused to feed off humans.

Lenore freaks out and tried to run away.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hey, hey. Lenore, stop. Look, we're happy you're here," the taller Winchester reassures her.

She stops struggling and Cas releases his grip on her.

"Been a long time. You remember us?" Dean asks her. He's glad that if it had to be a vampire that it's this one.

"I remember. Your hunter friend almost killed me," the vampire replies, still tense and uneasy.

"Well if it makes you feel any better, uh, he turned into a vampire and I chopped his head off," Sam tells her.

"Yeah. With razor wire. Wicked," Dean adds, not really feeling all that sorry about the guy who'd tried to kill him.

"Well, that's something." Lenore mutters more to herself than anyone else. "What's going on? Why am I here?" Because, wow, she never thought these two would have an angel helping them. They must've been through a lot.

"Eve," Ambriel answered. "We have it on good authority that you know where she is."

The vampire gave them a look. "You've got to be kidding me. You want me to tell you where she is? You do know she could be listening to us right now. I might as well be a video camera. What are you thinking?"

Bobby says, "So we don't have the element of surprise, we're still going in."

"You're crazy." She replies, shaking her head. "I can't help you."

"Can't or won't?" Sam questions. "Look, it's clear as day. You still give a crap. You don't wanna kill. And don't want this whole planet dead."

Lenore looks at them and seeing their confidence asks, "You actually believe you can stop her?"

"Just tell us where she is." The younger Winchester says in response.

After a moment of hesitation she tells them, "Grants Pass, Oregon." She closes her eyes and hopes they really can take her out. "And now she knows you're coming."

"Well let's go see," is all Bobby says as he turns around to head out.

She opens her eyes and takes a step forward. "Hold on. I didn't tell you this out of the goodness of my heart. I need something."

"What?" Sam asks.

"Kill me." Lenore tells them without any hesitation.

Amy and Barkiel lock eyes.

[Can we save her?] Ambriel asks.

[Did Raziel okay it?]

She tilts her head in a nod. [Yes, he even suggested it as a way to make the Mother aware of our existence.]

Just as Castiel tilts his head toward them with a frown, Barky replies. [So be it then.]

"I'll do it again. I can't stop, not anymore. You have to. Please." The vampire says before the blonde angel steps forward, grabs her and disappears.

Dean and Sam give Ambriel a what-the-hell look.

"We'll meet you there," is all she says before she's also gone.

* * *

"You think Vampira was lying?" Bobby asks as Dean, Sam, Castiel and himself all sit together in a diner.

"I'll search the town," Cas volunteers. "Give me a moment.

Dean stares at him when nothing happens. "Cas, we can still see you."

"Yeah, I'm still here," he says, not allowing his surprise to show.

"Okay, well you don't have to wait on us, you –" But before he can finish the angel closes his eyes and makes a strained expression. "Well now it just looks like you're pooping."

He opens his eyes, worry showing on his face. "Something's wrong."

Dean frowned. "What, are you stuck?"

"I'm blocked. I'm powerless."

"You're joking?" Because seriously, what the hell?

"Something in this town, is, uh, it's affecting me. I assume it's Eve," Castiel replied.

"So wait, Mom's making you limp?" Dean asks.

It only takes him a second to realize this is a metaphor and he's the slightest bit happy he recognizes it as one. "Figuratively, yes."

"How?"

Cas puts out his arms in a how-should-I-know motion. "I don't know, but she is."

"Well, that's great, because without your power, you're basically just a baby in a trench coat."

Castiel gets this look on his face before shaking his head slightly and looking away, out the window.

Dean's face forms a what-did-I-do expression.

Sam looks up at his brother long enough to say, "I think you hurt his feelings."

"Well duh," a familiar voice says from behind Dean, causing the four of them to look up. "Calling him a baby is essentially the human equivalent of calling him a cherub because they're at the bottom of the hierarchy." Barkiel says, pulling over a chair from one of the tables to sit down. "Don't worry Cas. I still think you're a puppy."

He frowns before she explains.

"Unexpectedly dangerous for the level of adorableness."

Castiel tilts his head.

"Aww, see! Like that!"

Dean shakes his head. "So where's Amy?"

The angel laughs nervously, "Well, she was supposed to be right behind me but I'm thinking she got landed when Eve put up her little angelic power blocker. So, maybe a couple hours?" She shrugged. "I'm not sure how far this thing reaches."

He's about to ask what they did with Lenore but Bobby speaks up, having finally found some type of lead.

They split up to cover more ground; Dean, Castiel and Barkiel going to see a Dr. Silver at his office while Bobby and Sam go to the guy's house. The trio end up finding a body they end up burning and the other two have a run in with the Sheriff. When they meet up they decide to go to Ed Bright's house. What they find is a room full of Ed look-alikes, dead look-alikes. Luckily one of them stays alive long enough to tell them about a bar on 8th street and a girl in white. The bar is littered with corpses of hybrid monsters who appear to have all died from a fever. Before they can find out more the Sheriff and two cops come in and arrest them.

Dean's the only one lucky enough not to get caught and dragged down to the station.

* * *

Barkiel doesn't know whether to consider it bad luck or good luck that the officers are Jefferson Starships and therefore, things they're allowed to kill.

It doesn't take long and Sam has to stop Dean from killing the Sheriff because, hey, they have to question someone.

"Well, I'll say this, you're the healthiest looking specimen I've seen all day," Bobby tells the hybrid after they get the Starship into an interrogation room.

He sneers, "I take my vitamins."

Sam and Dean watch from behind the window, both thinking of how it's kinda nice to be on the other side of it.

Barky glances over at Castiel and in her boredom starts to wonder what would happen if she poked him.

"So you boys are, uh, Eve's cleaning crew, is that it? You, uh - you come around to clean up the bodies? Make sure the word doesn't get out, huh? Is that why you snatched up the doctor?"

The Sheriff sighs. "You're so wasting your time. You stupid head of cattle." Then he laughs like the last bit was a good joke.

"You think she'd actually give them a good sense of humor," Barkiel mutters, unimpressed.

* * *

Amy is tired. Not exhausted thank god but still actually physically tired. Because she's been walking all day to get into town. True, she didn't have to. Eve or no Eve that field she erected around the town and a couple miles out of town would've slowed her down but definitely not have stopped her and honestly it would've only slowed down one method of travel. Still, she needed a good walk considering what would have to be done once she gets to the police station. Plus, the fact that both her and Barky's cover will be blown tonight once they encounter Eve.

* * *

The blonde angel turns her attention away from the interrogation just before Sam and Dean hear a noise, causing them to look at her for guidance on this. "I've got it. You guys just stay here."

Dean wants to argue but is silenced with a look. Barkiel's a damn good hunter so he knows even without her angel mojo she should be all right. Still, he just can't help but worry as he watches her leave.

* * *

Barky enters the prison cell area just in time to see Ambriel finish slicing off the second boy's head. She grimaces, knowing her companion hates to kill children as bad as allowing a familiar to suffer, even if they are monsters. [You should've let me do it.]

She shakes her head. [It was whoever gets here first. We agreed.]

The grey-eyed woman frowns. [You should clean up before we join the others.]

Amy looks down at herself and laughs. "Yeah, well, walking all day will do that to a person." In the blink of an eye her clothes and body are cleaned though she still appears a bit ruffled.

* * *

"Hey Amy, you all right?" Sam asks, the first one who spots her coming in with Barkiel.

She glares at him. "It took me all day to walk here Sammy. How would you feel?"

He winces but doesn't say anything though he does take a quick glance at the other female angel to see her also casting a worried glance toward Ambriel.

In the blink of an eye though Barky's apparent concern has disappeared as she turns toward the others. "Okay, either Cas or I need to go in and interrogate this guy cuz Bobby's not getting anywhere."

Castiel takes one look at Barkiel and volunteers. He doesn't know why but for whatever reason Ambriel needs comfort and Barkiel would be the best candidate for that.

"Wait, why you guys?" Dean asks, a little put out him and Sam aren't included. "I mean, you don't even have any mojo right now."

"I do not need…mojo to get an answer from an abomination," Castiel replied before going in to take Bobby's place.

Barky sighs. "Yeah, well, we best start getting ready to head out. With Cas on the case it won't take long."

The Winchesters frown but follow the two angels out into the hall and meet up with Bobby before they hear the Sheriff scream. They don't even have time to leave the hall before Castiel comes out, wiping blood off his hands.

"Eve's at 25 Buckley Street."

* * *

They've only got five shells and there are six of them but both Ambriel and Barkiel refuse to take one, saying Dean should keep the extra.

"We're not gonna need it," Amy tells him.

He gives her a look. "You know how this is gonna turn out, don't you?"

She frowns. "To be honest, I'm not too sure but I do have an idea."

They find out the address is to the diner the group was at earlier and although Dean's plan to lure Eve out isn't really a plan and is really unnecessary both Amy and Barky go along with it, waiting outside with Cas and Bobby.

The two Winchesters find out quick that they're the only humans in that diner but before they can leave Eve does approach them.

As it turns out Eve says she's just defending her children.

Some Starships, on Eve's orders, destroy Sam and Dean's guns.

After changing herself to look like their mother she tells them she doesn't want them dead, just Crowley.

"Well you're too late there - that little limey mook roasted months ago." Dean tells her.

"Crowley's alive."

"That's impossible." Sam says but he's starting to doubt this.

Eve scoffs, "I see his face through the eyes of every child he strings up and skins. Any idea why he's hurting my babies?"

The older Winchester slightly shrugs. "He wants Purgatory, right? Location, location, location."

The Mother laughs. "Is that what he told you? It's about the souls."

Sammy scoffs. "What about 'em?"

She gives him a look, one similar to the one Amy gave him when she talked about what an arrogant ass he was being. "Their power, you simple little monkey. Fuel. Each soul a beautiful little nuclear reactor. Put 'em together, you have the sun. Now think what the king of hell could do with that vast, untapped oil well. How powerful he'd be. Now Crowley wants to siphon off my supply, and torture my children to do it? Okay fine. I'll quite playing nice. I'll turn you all. Every soul, mine. Let's see how hot his hell burns when everyone comes to me. He asked for it."

Dean gives her a skeptical look. "You know, last I checked, there were a few billion of us. That plan might take a while."

Eve raises her arms up. "What exactly do you think I'm doing here? I'm building the perfect beast."

Sam frowns. "Wait a second, all those - all those things we've been finding."

"Call it beta testing." She says with a smile.

"Well, I think your formula might be a little off. They're imploding all over town." Dean informs her.

"Oh, there were a few unfortunate failures. But I think I eventually got it right. Quiet, smart, inconspicuous. It can spread through a whole town in under a day and while I'm not entirely sure I feel pretty confident it could pass by a hunter undetected." She sighs, dejected. "It's such a shame I never got to know for sure but then again they were never made to stand against something like the-" She smiled. What do you know? It seems their secrecy magic still didn't allow her to say what their kind was called.

Dean and Sam frown at that.

"Anyway, I have an offer to propose. Crowley. As you know, not so easy to find. So, here's the deal. You find him, bring him to me - I let you live." Eve tells them with a smile.

"Pass," Dean answers automatically.

"Dean."

"Sam, no. The answer is no." He says stubbornly.

"Well, if you won't maybe they will."

Starships bring in Amy, Barkiel, Bobby and Castiel.

Eve doesn't even look at Bobby or Cas as she turns to the two women. "Surprise, surprise. I didn't think your kind got so involved in major events anymore."

Bobby, Castiel and the Winchesters frown.

Ambriel snorts. "Well, we've always been a little different."

Eve hums.

"And which of us created you?" Barkiel questioned.

She smiled. "I was a playmate for young Zero. He had such wonderful ideas for me to bring to life."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "Well we wouldn't expect any less from the Prince of the Underworld."

"Why don't we cut right to the point? I have no doubt you two could find Crowley if you really wanted to or do you still abide by those horrid rules?" The Mother asked.

Amy sighed. "The rules have not changed. We cannot change what is meant to be."

Eve stares at her for a moment before waving at the two Starships holding the two of them. "Release them."

"What?!" Dean asks, shocked. "You just let them go!"

The Mother smirks at him. "You really don't know what they are, do you?"

Sam frowns. "I don't understand. You mean they aren't angels?"

Eve laughs. "Angels?!" She looks back at the two women for a moment. "Well, I do suppose they have the power to smite." Her gaze falls back on her hostages. "No, these two are more powerful than any angel."

Dean frowned. "What exactly does that mean?"

Castiel frowned. "I do not understand. Nothing is more powerful than angels except God."

"Exactly," she replies, smug.

Dean looked at the pair in disbelief. "Are you telling me those two are God? I thought there was just supposed to be one?"

"Eve," Ambriel hissed. "That's enough. You know the punishment for such a revelation!"

"If you didn't want me to know you should have just killed Lenore," Eve told her.

Barkiel glared at her and took a step forward. "You do _not_ want to piss me off Eve."

She took a step back, eyes narrowing. "You can't be." She knew all of Them had different forms but this one surely couldn't be a phoenix, could she?

The grey-eyed woman smirked. "Oh, I so can. It was the first form I learned you know."

Eve grabbed Dean. "I'll turn him," she threatened.

"You don't have the-"

And she bit Dean's neck.

"No!" Sam shouted.

"Dean!" Cas called, struggling against the Starship holding him.

Then Eve staggered back, coughing.

"Phoenix ash. One shell, one ounce of whisky. Down the hatch." Dean announces, pleased with himself.

"You!" Eve glared at the two women who were smiling at her. "You tricked me!"

"Well, that's what you get for not watching what you eat," Barky says before Eve finally dies.

"Shut your eyes!" Castiel shouts as the Starships start attacking.

Everyone except Amy and Barkiel do so as Cas creates a blast of white light throughout the diner, killing all the monsters and causing a car alarm to go off outside.

"We got to take you on more monster hunts," Bobby says after seeing all the monsters on the ground.

Sam sighs. "Hey Cas, um, Dean's bleeding pretty good."

Castiel walks over to him.

"Yeah, I think she turned me into a Jefferson Starship. Could you clear that up too?"

The angel touches his shoulder and the wound is instantly healed.

"Alright, we're good." He turns to face Ambriel and Barky, "Now what the hell was all that… about?"

But the two fake angels were no longer there.

"I guess that means Eve wasn't lying about them not being angels. Do you think she was telling the truth about Crowley?" Sam asked.

Castiel frowned. "What about Crowley?"

"She said that Crowley's still kicking." Answered Dean.

"But I burned his bones, how c-?" The angel's frown deepens. "Was she certain?"

"Sounded pretty sure. According to her, Crowley's still water boarding her kids, somewhere."

"I don't understand." He says, looking conflicted.

"Well he is a crafty son of a bitch."

"I'll look into it immediately," Cas says before he disappears.

"Cas!" He shouts to the ceiling. "Let us know what you find out!" And Dean hates it when it becomes obvious that Sam and Bobby doubt Castiel because every instinct is telling him they're right.

* * *

_Stronger Than Billions of Corrupted Souls_

Summary:

Sequel to "More Pure Than an Angel's Grace." Castiel has demanded they bow down and profess their love which amazingly holds the answer to fixing things. Now if only Dean could just suck it up and stop pretending he doesn't have the power to do it.

**Ah, the long awaited sequel. As promised, there will indeed be Destiel in it.**

* * *

Next time

Chapter 13: Cousins a Couple Times Removed

"Give me a sign. Because if you don't...I'm gonna ju- I'm gonna do whatever I... Whatever I must." He looked up in surprise when he felt another's presence. "Father?"

**Finally, the title comes up. But will you take the meaning as it is intended?**


	13. Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

Disclaimer:

I do not own Supernatural

Timeline:

Starts at the end of the Season 5 Finale

Inspired By:

My best friend got me into Supernatural just this year. I watched it before but never enough to really get any of the big picture storyline. After watching Season 6 I was sadly unable to view Season 7 on TV (and am therefore waiting for it to become available for rent) so I began mentally taking apart the plot of Season 6 and decided it could've been done better. My best friend agrees with me so I wrote this

Pairings:

Hints/Implied/Pre-Slash Dean/Castiel (not that the pre-slash isn't practically cannon anyway)

Implied Azul/Amara

Summary:

There were some things they couldn't just stand by and allow to happen: Dean spending the year with Lisa? Hell no. A soulless Sam walking around? Not happening. Allowing Dean to blow up a dragon sword? Yeah, sure, it shouldn't be high on the list of priorities but as long as they were there, why not save that too?

* * *

Chapter 13: 

Cousins a Couple Times Removed

It'd been a while since they'd seen Castiel and their hearts ached as he called for his father's advice. But they knew better than anyone that his father wasn't going to answer. As Castiel's father's temps and hell, simply as the angel's friends they listened to his story. And they too remembered. They recalled Raphael's attempt to get everyone to get the apocalypse on track, how Cas had stood up to his older brother even though he hadn't stood a chance and regretted how when Castiel had tried to find Dean to ask for help he couldn't even find him. They knew in that simple action, that if they had allowed Dean to be found, they could've stopped all of this. But well, Castiel was going to have to learn to make his own decisions by himself eventually and Crowley had been determined the perfect test by Sam-I-Am to see how far the angel had come since the beginning. And while neither Dean, Sam, Bobby nor even Castiel knew, Cas was different from the other angels. Not like Raziel and his team were different because those angels were amazingly incorruptible. Castiel was different in that he'd been given some qualities of a human though for the most part they hadn't started showing until after the angel had met Dean. Speaking of Dean, they were rather disappointed by their friend for not sticking by Castiel. After all, he hadn't hesitated to stick by Sam when he was fucking a demon and drinking demon blood. And while they weren't happy that Dean placed part of the blame on them for keeping Cas from finding him they knew it was for the best. Dean may have been the righteous man but there were times like this when even he was being a bit self-righteous.

"So, that's everything. I believe it's what you would call a...Tragedy from the human perspective. But maybe the human perspective is...Limited. I don't know. That's why I'm asking you, Father." He said, looking up to the sky. "One last time. Am I doing the right thing? Am I on the right path? You have to tell me. You have to give me...A sign." Castiel closed his eyes and pleaded. "Give me a sign. Because if you don't...I'm gonna ju- I'm gonna do whatever I... Whatever I must." He looked up in surprise when he felt another's presence. "Father?"

"Azul and Amara," Zul told him with a sad smile. "You can call us Azul and Amara."

After a moment he asked, "Are you two really God?"

The black-haired woman shook her head. "Think of us as something more akin to cousins."

"Cousins a couple times removed," the blonde added.

They truly did want to stop it but as they ended up telling him that night, they could not tell him if his decision was right or wrong, only that they would stick by him. And in truth, this was for the best because without Castiel the king of hell would've taken all the souls for himself and things would've turned really bad then.

* * *

Ben is lying on his bed reading while listening to his iPod when he hears his mother shout. He watches from the top of the stairs as one of the men who broke into the house snaps Matt's neck. When he sees another of them follow his mom's gaze to him he runs into his room, closes the door and puts a chair under the handle.

"No!" Lisa screams.

Then he puts his hands together and he prays. "Azul." He gulps. "Amarilla. If you two can hear me, I need you now."

* * *

All Amara and Azul can do after rescuing Ben is watch and wait. Watch as Crowley lies and says he has both Lisa and Ben, watch as Dean starts doing the very thing he swore he'd never do after leaving hell, watch as Castiel tries to make Dean understand and fails again, watch as Dean refuses to believe Cas when the angel tells him he didn't know Crowley would take Lisa and Ben, watch as Balthazar finds out Castiel has teamed up with the king of hell, watch as Bobby discovers that Eleanor, the dragon expert, isn't really human and has been trying to keep Purgatory closed for the last seventy-five years, watch as Balthazar offers to help Dean and Sam and even takes them to the building where Crowley is keeping Lisa, watch as the demon possessing Lisa taunts Dean about never finding Ben only to stab her when Dean tries exorcising her, watch as Sam and Dean rush Lisa to the hospital but ends up not making it in time. They don't tell Ben the details, only that his mother is dead and when Ben asks why they didn't save her too they tell him they couldn't. Because they only get glimpses of the most important events so they don't know where Crowley kept Lisa and Raziel wouldn't tell them. After they see Castiel pull down the wall in Sam's head before telling Crowley he's not getting a single soul they ask Raziel again if they can step in again. Besides, it's almost time for them to show themselves anyway.

* * *

Dean and Bobby arrive just in time to see Crowley attempting the ritual before the king of hell flings them down the stairs.

"Mm-hmmm. Maybe I said it wrong." He says to himself when nothing happens.

Castiel appears holding an empty jar of blood. "You said it perfectly. All you needed was this." He informs him, putting the empty jar down as Bobby and Dean start to get up. He shares a brief look with Dean, making sure the hunter is all right before glancing back at Crowley with a slightly smug expression.

"I see." Crowley walks over to the wall and touches the blood.

The archangel keeps her eyes on Castiel. She knows there's something different about him but she doesn't know what it is exactly.

"And we've been working with," he tastes it, "Dog blood. Naturally."

Castiel's mouth turns upward into a small smirk as he glances over at Dean again. Because he wants him to see this, to see that he was right and had things under control.

"Enough of these games, Castiel. Give us the blood."

Crowley looks over at the archangel. "You- Game's over." He points over to the jar, "His jar's empty." Then he turns to Cas. "So, Castiel, how'd your ritual go? Better than ours, I'll bet."

Castiel closes his eyes as a bright light comes from him, growing so bright even Raphael has to shield her eyes before it fades away again. It's an amazing feeling to be so powerful. He understands now why Raphael was always so smug about being more powerful than him. But now things are different. "You can't imagine what it's like. They're all inside me. Millions upon millions of souls."

"Sounds sexy. Exit stage Crowley." Then the king of hell disappears.

Raphael glances at the empty spot where Crowley once stood, scared because she can't even flee.

"Now, what's the matter, Raphael? Somebody clip your wings?" Cas taunts because he now has the power to prevent Raphael from leaving.

"Castiel, please. You let the demon go, but not your own brother?"

He smiles a little. "The demon I have plans for. You on the other hand..." With a snap of his fingers the archangel explodes. Then he looks to Dean and Bobby, turning serious for only a moment before he walks over to one of the walls, smiling as he says, "So, you see, I saved you."

Dean watches him, worried and cautious. "Sure thing, Cas. Thank you."

"You doubted me, fought against me, but I was right all along." He turns around to face Dean.

"Okay, Cas, you were. We're sorry. Now let's just defuse you, okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're full of nuke. It's not safe. So, before the eclipse ends, let's get them souls back to where they belong." He says, almost begging.

"Oh no, they belong with me." Cas tells him, still smiling.

"No, Cas, it's it-it's scrambling your brain."

"No, I'm not finished yet. Raphael had many followers, and I must," he pauses for a moment before continuing, "punish them all severely."

Bobby just keeps looking between Dean and Castiel. He knows if anyone can talk Cas down it's Dean but unfortunately it doesn't look like the angel's willing to give up the souls of purgatory.

"Listen to me." Dean says, taking a few steps toward him.

Cas tilts his head but not in the usual adorable way as he listens.

"Listen, I know there's a lot of bad water under the bridge, but we were family once. I'd have died for you. I almost did a few times. So if that means anything to you..."

Bobby can't help but feel some of the pain that the boy he thinks of as a son is obviously feeling and it now becomes obvious to him just how much Castiel means to Dean.

"Please. I've lost Lisa, I've lost Ben, and now I've lost Sam. Don't make me lose you too."

Castiel's smile has completely disappeared by now as he looks down. He doesn't want to hurt Dean.

"You don't need this kind of juice anymore, Cas. Get rid of it before it kills us all."

A slight anger comes over him and he smiles a little. Dean still doesn't understand. He still doesn't trust him to know what he's doing. "You're just saying that because I won. Because you're afraid." He steps toward him. "You're not my family, Dean."

Bobby and Dean both stare wide-eyed as Sam stabs Castiel in the back with the angel sword Raphael dropped after exploding. But nothing happens to Cas.

Castiel reaches behind himself and pulls the sword out and places it on the table. "I'm glad you made it, Sam." He turns so he can keep both brothers in sight as he tells Sam, "But the angel blade won't work, because I'm not an angel anymore."

All three mortals share worried and scared expressions.

Cas looks toward Dean. "I'm your new God. A better one. So you will bow down and profess your love unto me, your Lord. Or I shall destroy you."

As the three of them are still looking at each other two familiar figures appear, both dropping to their knees in front of Castiel.

"All hail Godstiel!" They raise their hands and lower them to the ground before smiling up at him.

He smiles back at the two women, his only family.

"We love you Cas!" They say together. "Can we hug you now?"

Castiel's smile widens, becoming genuine. "If you wish."

"What the hell?!" Dean stares at Amy and Barkiel or Azul and Amar-or whoever the hell they are as they hug the nuke-powered angel and snuggle into his trench coat.

His cousins a couple times removed. He's glad they love and believe in him at least.

* * *

**And that is the end of Season 6. Due to the fact I haven't _seen_ Season 7 I can't exactly write it yet but it will deter more from the storyline than this did. I introduced some ideas and left a lot of questions in the last two chapters on purpose. I plan on answering and going more into things in the sequel. For those of you who aren't sure what these things are I'll list them.**

* * *

**Balthazar, did he live or die in this fanfiction? I didn't write it because I'm undecided. ****Azul and Amara did ask Raziel if they could interfere a little before his death. Question is, did they? **

**Ben, how does he know Azul and Amara? What exactly are they planning on doing with Ben since Lisa is dead?**

**Lenore, if she's not dead then what happened to her? Azul and Amarilla did do something.**

**Castiel, Azul and Amara mention that he was created differently than the other angels. Exactly how different? And why? Is it for this reason that Cas keeps getting brought back?**

**Azul and Amara, what are they? Definitely going to go into that. **

**Who the _Hell_ is Zero? According to Amara the Prince of the Underworld but obviously this might not necessarily mean Hell. But it begs to question that if Eve was Zero's playmate as a child and Zero is of the same race as Azul and Amara, what side are they really on?**

**If there are any other plot holes I've missed please let me know so I can at least add it to my personal list of goals for the sequel.**

* * *

**Also, this one is a series of holidays written for the year Dean, Amara and Azul spent together before he was misguided into thinking they were angels**

Give Me an Excuse to Celebrate

Summary:

How did Dean, Amara and Azul celebrate the holidays? Did Dean ever think of Sam or Cas? Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Valentine's Day


End file.
